Delhi Capitals (DC) thumped defending champion Mumbai Indians (MI) for the first time in six attempts as they mowed down a mediocre total with five balls to spare. A six-wicket victory against MI will help DC climb to the second position in the points table of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.
Rohit Sharma (44 off 30) and Suryakumar Yadav (24 off 15) started on an explosive note as they toyed with the DC bowlers. However, Suryakumar’s dismissal in the seventh over opened the floodgates for Mumbai, as Amit Mishra (4-0-24-4) ran through the middle order. Mishra was named Player of the Match.
Chasing 138, Delhi got off to a cautious start after losing Prithvi Shaw early. Shikhar Dhawan (45 off 42) and Steven Smith (33 off 29) added 53 for the second wicket to build a solid foundation for the rest of the batters. Shimron Hetmyer (14* off 9) and Lalit Yadav (22* off 25) played crucial knocks to guide their team across the finishing line.
Rohit, Suryakumar counterpunches
To seek victory in strange lands deception is an important weapon, and it came quite early in the contest when Marcus Stoinis started the attack for Delhi Capitals. Stoinis’ pace, or the lack of it, provided DC with an early breakthrough: an off-cutter, bowled short of a good length, kissed Quinton de Kock’s willow to land into the Rishabh Pant’s gloves.
But de Kock’s dismissal was the lone bright spot in what otherwise was a period of absolute domination from Rohit and Suryakumar. The second over, by R Ashwin, went for 15 runs; Kagiso Rabada conceded 14 in the third; and Suryakumar smashed two boundaries off Mishra’s first over to finish the Powerplay on a bang.
Both Rohit and Suryakumar were ruthless in their attack. They went after everything and played some enchanting shots en route to their 58-run partnership.
Amit Mishra’s spin turns the game
Avesh Khan got Suryakumar in the seventh over to bring DC back in the game. Lalit Yadav managed to stop the run flow in the next over, conceding just three runs off it. Sensing an opportunity, Pant immediately recalled Mishra into the attack.
Rohit thrashed him for a boundary, then danced down the track to deposit the tossed-up delivery into the stands. Mishra, having anticipated this, bowled a bit wider. Rohit could not reach, and a desperate swing of blade brought his downfall. This was the seventh time he fell to Mishra.
A ball later, Amit once again tossed up the ball to Hardik Pandya, the new batsman. Just like his skipper, Hardik backed himself to clear the boundary but holed out an easy catch to Smith, who had also taken Rohit’s catch.
Mishra added two more wickets to his tally. Kieron Pollard failed to pick up a googly as the ball hit straight to his pads, while Ishan Kishan chopped on a wide, slow yorker in the eighteenth over.
Ishan, Jayant build after dramatic collapse
A great start begets an inevitable collapse. This has been the maxim of MI’s batting so far in the tournament. There was no deviation from the template even today as they found themselves from 76/2 to 84/6 in a blink of an eye. Ishan and Jayant Yadav then added 39 for the seventh wicket before the former was undone by Mishra. Jayant then gave a return catch to Rabada in the 19th over. In the end, MI could only manage 137/9.
Delhi Capitals proceed cautiously
Trent Boult almost got his team a breakthrough in the very first over. Shikhar Dhawan, trying to flick towards the on-side, closed his bat early, and a leading edge flew towards cover. Hardik Pandya stretched himself and grabbed the ball, but could not manage to get his hands underneath it. Dhawan was deemed not out due to a lack of clear evidence.
Prithvi Shaw spliced a return catch to Jayant in the second over, but a below-par target allowed Smith and Dhawan to take time, get their eyes in and proceed without having to worry about the asking rate. They dealt in singles and kept finding the occasional boundary.
Smith was finally undone by Kieron Pollard, who pinned him on the front pad. Pollard had been acting as stand-in captain after Rohit left the ground during the Delhi innings.
Another twist in the tale
As per the trend, runs became a bit harder to come by in the middle overs, and there was a period when Delhi could only manage 22 runs between the 10th and 14th overs.
When Rahul Chahar came in to bowl the next, Dhawan welcomed him with a six over mid-wicket and followed it with a powerful pull for a four. He then attempted a slog sweep but could not middle it, and Krunal Pandya dived forward to grab a stunning catch.
Two over later, Krunal took another superb catch after Pant miscued a scoop off Jasprit Bumrah. Delhi needed 22 from the last three overs. Boult, in his last over, brought this down to 15 from two.
But Bumrah overstepped twice in the penultimate over. Although he did not concede boundaries in the resultant free hits, he still ended up giving away 10 runs.
With 5 needed from the last over, Shimron Hetmyer muscled away a shortish delivery outside off from Pollard to the backward point boundary.
A beamer off the next ball killed the contest as Delhi Capitals finally toppled over Mumbai Indians, after failing to do so in four attempts in the previous season.
Brief Score
Mumbai Indians 137/9 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 44; Amit Mishra 4-24) lost to Delhi Capitals 138/4 in 19.1 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 45; Jayant Yadav 1-25) by 6 wickets with 5 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Amit Mishra.