Mumbai Indians became the first team to qualify for the IPL Playoffs after bulldozing the hosts Delhi Daredevils by 146 runs in a one-sided match, while Paceman Jaydev Unadkat revelled in a five-wicket haul that included a hat-trick as Rising Pune Supergiant eked out a 12-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad to jump to the second spot in IPL, on Saturday.

West Indians wreak havoc at Kotla

b’Kieron Pollard stuck an unbeaten 63 off 35 balls. BCCI.xc2xa0′

West Indians Lendl Simmons and Kieron Pollard struck blazing half centuries before their bowlers came up with clinical show to demolish the home team by the biggest-ever margin in IPL history.

Simmons, who replaced Jos Butler at the top of the order, displayed ominous form in his very first match of the season to smash 66 off 43 balls before Pollard came to the party with a 35-ball 63 to take table leaders Mumbai to an imposing 212 for three.

Daredevils were expected to put up a fight, especially after chasing of 185 and 208 in the last four days at the Feroz Shah Kotla and were shot out for 66, the lowest total this season.

 Their talent rich batting line-up came a cropper against a disciplined Mumbai attack, especially spinners Harbhajan Singh and Karn Sharma who picked up three wickets apiece.

The game was as good as over when Daredevils lost half their side for 35 runs in the sixth over before folding in 13.4 overs, days after being bowled for 67 runs by Kings XI Punjab in Mohali.

The 146-run thumping was also the highest victory margin by runs for any team in the IPL history.

Mumbai now have nine wins from 11 games with 18 points and are well on course to top the points table. It was a seventh loss for the hosts in 11 matches, virtually ending their hopes of sealing a play-off spot.

Jaydev Unadkat’s five-wicket haul steers RPS to 2nd spot

b”Jaydev Unadkat’s 5/30 from his four overs helped Pune defend a paltry total of 148. BCCI.”

Defending a modest 148 set up by Sunrisers Hydetrabad, the Pune outfit came up with a superb bowling performance with Unadkat (5/30) and Ben Stokes (3/30) doing the maximum damage, especially in the final overs to restrict Hyderabad to 136 for nine in 20 overs.

Unadkat took a hat-trick in the final over of the match when Pune needed 13 runs, to shut the door on the visitors.

He sent back Bipul Sharma, Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the second, third and fourth deliveries of the 20th over respectively. It was third hat-trick of the season.

At one stage, defending champions were cruising along comfortably when veteran Yuvraj Singh (47) and skipper David Warner (40) were at the crease.

The duo put on 54 runs together for the third wicket before Warner departed for 40 which was studded with four hits to the fence and a six.

Yuvraj continued to play his shots but failed to take the team all the way home, falling for 43-ball 47 that included four boundaries and two sixes, with the scorecard reading 117 for five.

After Yuvraj’s departure, 32 more runs needs for victory and as many as five wickets in hand, but no lower-order batsmen seem to show any resistance, even as Unadkat took three successive wickets in the final over to wrap up the match in Pune’s favour.

Earlier, Sunrisers Hyderabad dished out a tidy bowling performance, led by Siddarth Kaul, to restrict Rising Pune Supergiant to a modest 148 for eight.

The Hyderabad bowlers dominated the proceedings from the word go after inviting the Pune outfit to take first strike with Kaul returning impressive figures of four for 29 from his four overs, while Rashid Khan (1/18) and Bipul Sharma (1/39) took a wicket apiece. 

Feature Image: BCCI