Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Daredevils to stay in playoffs hunt

MUMBAI: Defending champs Mumbai Indians smothered Delhi Daredevils' challenge with a 15-run win on Friday. Having done that, they are now fifth on the table and have kept alive hopes of sneaking into the playoffs.
There was a sense of desperation in the body language of the Mumbai players as they were asked to bat first by Kevin Pietersen under an unforgiving sun. Michael Hussey and Lendl Simmons provided yet another brisk start that propelled the team score to 173.
Fresh from his hundred against the Kings XI on Wednesday, Simmons crossed the 300-run mark in the competition in only his sixth game with a 25-ball 35.
The veteran Hussey, on the other hand, waltzed his way to a 28-ball fifty (56; 33b, 7x4, 2x6) that saw Mumbai bring up the hundred in the 10th over.
With Pietersen going gung-ho, the Daredevils looked to have sunk their teeth into the chase initially. But then came the brain-freeze.
An attempted switch-hit off Harbhajan Singh went horribly wrong and ended in embarrassment for the Delhi captain as a failed to connection saw his furniture getting disturbed.
Soon, Delhi ran out of steam and finished with 158 for 4, another loss for the punching bags of IPL 7.