Left-arm fast bowler Ashish Nehra claimed 3-26 off his four overs as Mumbai Indians beat the in-form Delhi Daredevils by 29 runs in their home IPL match at Navi Mumbai today.

Set a modest target of 163 for victory, the flamboyant Delhi batsmen succumbed to Mumbai’s disciplined bowling attack with Nehra and captain Shaun Pollock holding sway and bowling out the visitors to 133 in 18.5 overs.

Today’s win marked Mumbai’s second of the competition as they seemed to have gained the much-needed momentum despite the absence of their star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who was trying his best to be back for today’s match from a groin injury.

The Daredevils’ chase did not get off to a fruitful start as they were down to 4-2 in the very 3rd over. In-form opener Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan had departed for an identical score of 1.

But the visitor’s hopes were pinned on the shoulders of their captain Virender Shewag as he took the attack to the Mumbai bowlers with aplomb and added 33 with South African A B de Villiers, who made 21.

Ashish Nehra and Shaun Pollock, who had provided the early breakthrough had dented the Delhi side as they were jolted in the 11th over when the dangerous Shewag departed for 40 off 20 balls, off Thornely and Mumbai were in business at 82-4.

Dinesh Karthik, the diminutive wicketkeeper and Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik then got together and added 27 for the fifth wicket before the latter was our for 21 off Pollock.

West Indian Dwayne Bravo then struck in the 17th over to claim Karthik’s wicket for 29 as he had him trapped lbw and Delhi’s chase looked in trouble at 119-6.

Earlier, Mumbai Indians once again missed the services of their appointed captain Sachin Tendulkar, but posted a decent total of 162-8 in their home IPL.

Mumbai, who were asked to bat first, made a solid start as openers Y Takawle and Sanath Jayasuriya went about belting the Delhi bowlers.

The duo added 46 for the first wicket, but lost their wickets in the same over to Mahesh as the visitors had reduced the hosts to 50-2 in the sixth over.

Robin Uthappa and D Thornely then steadied the ship adding an enterprising 52 for the third wicket. With Uthappa's departure for 22, Mumbai lost a bit of hold and struggled to get going. And once Thornely had gone for a well-made 31 off 24 balls, it was left to the veteran South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock (33) to push the scoring in the latter stages.

Scoreboard
Delhi
G Gambhir c Uthappa b Nehra 1
V Sehwag c Pollock b Thornely 40
S Dhawan c Uthappa b Pollock 1
AB de Villiers run out (Kulkarni) 21
S Malik c Nayar b Pollock 24
D Karthik lbw b Bravo 28
R Bhatia c Uthappa b Nehra 9
P Sangwan c Tiwary b Nehra 2
V Mahesh not out 3
M Asif c Nehra b Kulkarni 0
G McGrath c Thornely b Kulkarni 0
Extras: 4 ( b:0 lb:3 nb:1 w:0)
Total: 133-10 (18.5) | Curr. RR: 7.06 | Req. RR: 25.72

FOW: G Gambhir (3-1, 1.5), S Dhawan (4-2, 2.2), AB de Villiers (37-3, 6.1), V Sehwag (82-4, 10.2), S Malik (109-5, 14.1), D Karthik (119-6, 16.1), P Sangwan (130-7, 17.2), R Bhatia (130-8, 17.3), M Asif (132-9, 18.1), G McGrath (133-10, 18.5)

Mumbai
S Pollock 4 0 16 2
A Nehra 4 0 25 3
D Bravo 3 0 27 1
D Kulkarni 2.5 0 18 2
S Jayasuriya 1 0 16 0
D Thornely 2 0 15 1
R Raje 2 0 13 0

Mumbai
Y Takawle c Bhatia b Mahesh 14
S Jayasuriya b Mahesh 34
D Thornely b Bhatia 31
R Uthappa c Malik b Sangwan 22
D Bravo c Mahesh b Malik 2
A Nayar b Sehwag 2
S Pollock c de Villiers b Mahesh 33
S Tiwary c Malik b Asif 9
R Raje not out 6
A Nehra not out 0
Extras: 9 ( b:4 lb:1 nb:1 w:3)
Total: 162-8 (20) | Curr. RR: 8.10

FOW: Y Takawle (46-1, 5.4), S Jayasuriya (50-2, 6), R Uthappa (102-3, 13), D Thornely (109-4, 13.3), A Nayar (112-5, 14.5), D Bravo (112-6, 15.1), S Tiwary (136-7, 18.3), S Pollock (157-8, 19.2)

Delhi
G McGrath 4 0 26 0
M Asif 4 0 46 1
V Mahesh 4 0 33 3
P Sangwan 4 0 22 1
R Bhatia 2 0 22 1
V Sehwag 1 0 2 1
S Malik 1 0 6 1