Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma put together the third successive half-century first-wicket stand for Mumbai Indians against Delhi Capitals at the Feroz Shah Kotla. But it was the late charge by the Pandya brothers that put the Mumbai Indians score beyond the reach of Delhi capitals. When Rohit Sharma (30 off 22 balls) was bowled by Amit Mishra off the first ball after the power play with Mumbai Indians on 57, they were scoring at 9.5 runs per over. Axar Patel got Ben Cutting trapped in front in the very next over.
Quinton de Kock (35 off 27 balls) was then unnecessarily run out, courtesy Suryakumar Yadav. The boundaries dried up and the run rate started falling. Yadav and KH Pandya between them added 30 runs off 26 balls for the fifth wicket before Yadav (26 off 27 balls fell caught behind to Rabada. Hardik Pandya joined his brother Kurnal at the wicket with Mumbai Indians on 104 for 3 wickets and Krunal on 9 runs off 12 balls.
The onslaught started in the eighteenth over with Krunal Pandya hitting Keemo Paul for two boundaries and Hardik sending the ball into the stands beyond long-off. By the time Rabada got Hardik’s wicket, he had scored 32 runs off 15 balls and the brothers had put together 54 runs from 20 balls. Hardik Pandya hit two more boundaries in the remaining three balls. Mumbai Indians who seemed to be heading for a score in the region of 145-150 ultimately finished their inning with a commanding 168 for 5 wickets.
Prithvi Shaw (20 off 24 balls) and Shikhar Dhawan (35 off 22 balls) gave Delhi Capitals a good start in their chase to 169 runs. The two of them put together 48 runs in the Power play. Rohit Sharma, the Mumbai Indians skipper, introduced the leggie Rahul Chahar in only the second over of the innings. He conceded 10 runs in that over to Shikhar Dhawan and was taken off. When he came back after the power play Dhawan tried to reverse sweep the bowler but was beaten with the ball brushing his pads and onto the stumps.
With the asking rate rising, Prithvi Shaw came out to loft Chahar only to be caught by Hardik Pandya at long-on. While Krunal Pandya got the wicket of Colin Munro with a yorker, Chahar bowled Shreyas Iyer with a beauty. He tossed the ball up on a length on the leg stump. The ball spun away from the leg stump, beat Iyer,s forward defensive bat and took the off stump. Rahul Chahar finished his four overs with three wickets for 19 runs. With the required rate at 15.5 runs per over Rishab Pant missed a wild heave off a Bumrah delivery only to be bowled and it was all over for Delhi Capitals. Bumrah claimed another wicket later to finish with figures of 2 wickets for 18 runs.
Delhi Capitals have now lost three of their four home matches. The only match that they won was in a ‘super over’ against Kolkata Knight Riders. Shreyas Iyer, the Capitals Captain missed a trick or two in this match. Knowing well that the pitch will aid spinners he chose to keep Sandeep Lamichhane out of the playing eleven. He also kept Amit Mishra from bowling his last over when the bowler had figures of 1 wicket for 18 runs from three overs. Ishant Sharma, who had conceded only 17 runs from his 3 overs was also denied a chance to bowl his last over. Delhi Capitals are in the third place in the league table and have another three home matches to go.