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Dinesh Karthik smashed a 48-ball 86 while Rohit Sharma struck an unbeaten half-century as Mumbai Indians posted an imposing 209 for five against Delhi Daredevils in their Pepsi Indian Premier League match, here today.
Karthik and Sharma treated the opposition bowlers with disdain as both helped Mumbai recover from two early jolts at the Wankhede Stadium.
Karthik continued his rich vein of form as he hit 14 fours and two sixes in his aggressive knock while Sharma too played his role to perfection, hitting an unconquered 50-ball 74 to take the team's total past 200-run mark.
Sharma's chanceless knock was laced with 4 fours and five towering hits beyond the boundary line, which included three sixes off the last over bowled by pacer Ashish Nehra.
Ambati Rayudu too played a little cameo, hitting an eight-ball 24 laced with two fours and an equal number of sixes.
Put in to bat, Mumbai got off to a worst possible start as the two batting stalwarts of the game, skipper Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar, departed within a few balls of each other with just one run on board.
Irfan Pathan first got rid of Ponting (0) on the final ball of the first over before Mumbai got off the mark. Ponting came down the track and tried to loft the pacer over mid-off, but struck it straight to Delhi skipper Mahela Jayawardene.
In the next over, Tendulkar got run out, giving Delhi edge in the early overs.
Dinesh Karthik pushed one to mid off and Tendulkar took off for a quick single but was sent back mid way. Jayawardene got a direct hit from mid off with Tendulkar nowhere to be seen in the picture.
Karthik and Sharma then joined hands in the middle and both of them started the repair job.
After watching on few deliveries, Karthik upped his tempo and exploded in the sixth over, hitting Nehra for one six and two fours to accumulate 16 runs off the over.
Karthik smashed pacer Umesh Yadav for three fours in his second over to bring up his fifty in just 30 balls with the help of nine fours and one six.
