The juggenaut that is the Mumbai Indians (MI) continued their winning ways when they beat Delhi Capitals (DC) by five wickets in 27th Match of the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi yesterday.
DC made two changes to their playing XI as Ajinkya Rahane and Alex Carey replaced injured Rishabh Pant and Shimron Hetmyer.
Meanwhile, MI retained the same team.
Electing to bat, DC lost Prithvi Shaw in the first over as Trent Boult struck. Rahane, making his IPL debut for DC, joined Shikhar Dhawan in the middle and the two added 30 runs before Krunal Pandya got Rahane out for 15 in the fifth over.
With DC looking for a big partnership, skipper Shreyas Iyer and Dhawan joined forces. The pair hit three fours in the final over of the powerplay as DC moved to 46/2. The duo added 34 runs over the course of the next four overs to complete the 50-run stand as DC reached the 80-run mark by the end of the 10th over.
MI managed to keep things tight as the next four overs saw DC score not more than 23 runs and in an attempt to up the ante, lost Iyer for 42 in the 15th over, Krunal picking up his second wicket of the match.
Marcus Stoinis was the next man to walk in and he and Dhawan, who brought up his 50, scored 16 runs from the 16th over with the help of three fours. However, a mix-up between Dhawan and Stoinis helped MI pick up their fourth wicket as the Australian all-rounder got out for 13.
MI, then conceded 15 runs in the next two overs before DC scored 12 in the final over to post 162/4 on the board.
Defending 162, DC did not give any easy runs to MI in the first three overs before Quinton de Kock took on Ravichandran Ashwin in the fourth over, hitting the off-spinner for a six and a four.
MI lost their skipper Rohit Sharma in the fifth over after he held out in the deep off Axar Patel’s bowling.
De Kock continued to attack and hit Anrich Nortje for two sixes in the sixth over to take MI to 44/1 at the end of the powerplay. The next three overs saw MI score 28 runs as de Kock brought up his second 50 of the three games.
In the 10th over of the chase, Suryakumar Yadav got a reprieve as Ashwin could not hold on to a return catch. However, DC managed to see the back of de Kock in the same over after the left-hander was caught at the deep backward square-leg by Shaw after scoring 53 off 36 balls.
DC had a chance to run out Ishan Kishan in the next over, but DC could not cash in on the chance.
Surya then hit three fours over the course of next two overs as MI crossed the 100-run mark. Kishan followed suit as he hit Stoinis for a six and a four in the 14th over.
The next over saw Surya bringing up his second successive half-century of the season. But his 31-ball 53 blitz came to an end in the same over after Rabada dismissed him.
MI then lost Hardik for nought in the 16th over after he edged one to the wicketkeeper off Stoinis’ bowling.
With MI needing 18 off 18 deliveries, Kishan got a life as well as a six after Shaw parried one across the boundary ropes. However, Axar Patel held on to a fine low catch in the same over Rabada took his IPL 2020 wicket tally to 17.
While Nortje did a remarkable job to concede just three runs in the 19th over, MI, who needed seven runs off the last over, crossed the finish line with two balls to spare and moved to the top of the points table.
Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 166/5 (Suryakumar Yadav 53, Quinton de Kock 53; Kagiso Rabada 2/28) beat Delhi Capitals 162/4 (Shikhar Dhawan 69*, Shreyas Iyer 42; Krunal Pandya 2/26) by five wickets.
