Mumbai boy Shreyas Iyer combined with his captain Jean-Paul Duminy for a mammoth partnership to help the Delhi Daredevils break their jinx at the Ferozeshah Kotla with a 37-run victory against Mumbai Indians. Rohit Sharma’s men did show glimpses of their brilliance but the home team was too consistent for Mumbai Indians to match them.

Iyer and Duminy’s 154-run partnership for the second wicket – the highest for any wicket during the eighth edition of the Indian Premier League – meant Delhi Daredevils posted an imposing 190 for four. And the home side thrived on spinners to not let any of the marauding Mumbai Indians batsmen cross the 30-run mark, and restrict the visitors to 153 for nine.

The victory, Delhi Daredevil’s first in 10 matches at their home ground, has elevated Delhi Daredevils into the fourth position, while Mumbai Indians have slipped to the bottom of the table, with two points from six games.

With a two-paced pitch in offing at one of the smallest grounds in India, Rohit opted to bowl first after winning the toss. And Mitchell McClenaghan struck off the third ball of the match to see the back of dangerous Mayank Agarwal. But then on, it was a grind for Mumbai Indians in the field as young Iyer and seasoned Duminy made the MI bowlers toil.

Picking wickets has been a major concern for Mumbai Indians this season. And the problem came to the fore yet again as Iyer and Duminy played brilliant knocks. Despite the early blow, Iyer went after McClenaghan in the third over, while Duminy welcomed Jasprit Bumrah with back-to-back sixes in the bowler’s first over.

That meant Delhi Daredevils were placed at 43 for one at the end of the fifth over. Mumbai Indians then got their act together and pulled things back exceptionally in the next five, conceding just 22 runs. Duminy again went after Bumrah in the 11th to break the shackles with a six, followed by successive boundaries. Then on, the Delhi Daredevils broke away with the next four overs seeing 65 runs scored, as many as in the first 10 overs.

That forced Rohit to throw the ball to Harbhajan for applying the brakes, and possibly break the partnership. But Harbhajan, who had conceded 16 runs off his first three overs, went for as many in his last, with Duminy joining Iyer to celebrate his fifty off the last ball of the over.

By the time Lasith Malinga broke the leg-stump to see the back of a tired Iyer, who had walked across too much, Delhi Daredevils had crossed the 15-run mark with more than three overs to spare. Despite Mumbai Indians conceding just 16 runs in the last two overs, a total of 190 meant the Mumbai Indian’s openers had to fire.

However, Parthiv Patel and Lendl Simmons both fell early, courtesy exceptional catches in the outfield by Imran Tahir and Duminy, respectively. That was followed by Amit Mishra fooling Unmukt Chand in the flight and getting the talented batsman who was playing on his home ground stumped. Once Kieron Pollard was caught by Shahbaz Nadeem behind covers off Mishra just after the halfway mark, Rohit and Ambati Rayudu were left with too much to do on their platter.

When Rohit was caught by Nadeem in the deep off Nathan Coulter-Nile off the last ball of the over, the chase was all but over. Imran Tahir then took the zip off the match with three wickets in the next four balls to mean, Mumbai Indians will return to Wankhede Stadium, hoping to get back to winning ways in two days.