Mumbai Indians got off the mark on the points table as they beat Delhi Capitals by six wickets in a thrilling Match 16 of TATA IPL at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
Piyush Chawla (3/22) and Jason Behrendorff’s (3/23) three-wicket hauls helped MI restrict DC to 172. Captain Rohit Sharma then roared back to form with a brilliant knock of 65(45) as MI won a roller-coaster game off the last ball of the match.
Chasing 173, Rohit Sharma got MI off to a breezy start as he hit a couple of fours and a six off the first over from Mukesh Kumar. He flicked one through wide mid on for four, charged down the track and hammered the six over deep mid-wicket and then drove one through mid off to make it 14 off the first over. Ishan Kishan too started off aggressively as he hit three consecutive fours off Mustafizur Rahman. Nortje nearly struck first ball as he induced an inside edge off Kishan and it flew inches wide of the off stump for a four. Rohit though connected a couple off the middle as he flicked one over mid-wicket for a six and then cut one wide of third man for a four to make it 15 from the over.
Warner introduced spin into the attack in the fourth over and Lalit Yadav bowled a very good over, conceding just seven runs including a four off an outside edge of Kishan. The 50 came up for MI from 4.2 overs. The duo didn’t let Axar settle down as they hit a four each to make it 10 from the over.
Rohit ended the powerplay with a six behind deep square leg, off Lalit Yadav as MI reached 68/0.
Axar bowled a tight second over, giving away just two and then, against the run of play, DC got their first wicket as a miscommunication between the batters resulted in Ishan Kishan getting run out at the non-striker’s end trying to go for a quick single. DC pulled things back after the Powerplay and didn’t concede a boundary for 17 balls. Rohit finally broke the drought as he hammered a 95m six off Norje in the 9th over. Tilak Varma too got moving with a six off Kuldeep Yadav as MI reached 91/1 at the halfway mark. Rohit reached his fifty off 29 balls. Rohit and Varma mixed caution with aggression and kept the scoreboard ticking there after. They took 14 off Kuldeep in the 12th over to bring the equation down to 61 runs off 48 balls.
Things slowed down a bit in the next three overs as DC conceded just 11 runs off them and the required run-rate touching 10. Varma broke the shackles in the next over, hammering a couple of sixes and a four off Mukesh Kumar but the bowler bounced back by having Varma (41 off 29) caught at deep mid-wicket. And he made it 2 in 2 by having Suryakumar Yadav caught at fine leg off the next ball.
MI introduced Tim David, who came out to bat at No. 5, as their Impact Player, replacing Riley Meredith. With 34 needed off 24, Rohit hit a four off Mustafizur but the Bangladesh pacer bowled three dots and then got the MI Captain’s wicket courtesy a splendid catch by keeper Abhishek Porel. Rohit walked back for 65(45). Cameron Green hit the last ball of the over for a four to get off the mark off the first ball to bring the equation to 26 from 18.
Nortje bowled an excellent 18th over and conceded just six runs. With 20 needed off 12, Mustafizur gave away just two off the first three balls but then Green launched the next one into the stands to bring it down to 12 off 8. A single followed. And then, Impact Player Tim David connected one off the middle to let it sail over long on for a six.
With five needed off the last over, Green took a single off the first ball and then Mukesh Kumar dropped David at mid-wicket. With four needed off four, Nortje darted one down the leg side, David looked to flick but it brushed his pads on the way to the keeper. The umpire signalled a WIDE but DC reviewed it successfully. It was a dot ball. David took a single off the next ball. With 3 needed off 2, Nortje, who was brilliant with his yorkers right through the match, bowled another superb yorker, Green flicked it to mid-wicket and scampered through for a quick single as Nortje failed to collect the throw from the fielder. With 2 needed off the last ball, David drove it to long off and scampered through for a couple as he dived in full length to make it in time as the keeper whipped the bails off at the striker’s end. MI won a thriller by six wickets.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl. They made two changes to the starting XI as Nehal Wadhera and Riley Meredith replaced Tristan Stubbs and Tim David.
They named Tim David, Kumar Kartikeya, Arjun Tendulkar, Tristan Stubbs and Ramandeep Singh as their substitutes.
Delhi Capitals made three changes to their starting XI as debutant Yash Dhull, Prithvi Shaw and Mustafizur Rahman replaced Khaleel Ahmed, Rilee Rossouw and Mukesh Kumar. They named Mukesh Kumar, Aman Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Praveen Dubey and Ishant Sharma as their substitutes.
The DC openers got off to a brisk start. Prithvi Shaw got off the mark in his trademark style as he drove the first ball he faced straight down the ground for a four, off Jason Behrendorff. David Warner opened his boundary account as he welcomed Arshad Khan with a thumping pull for a four through mid-wicket in the second over. Shaw made it two fours in the over, punching one through extra cover and making it 12 off the over. Warner attacked the last two balls of the Cameron Green over and got two fours.
Rohit Sharma introduced spin in the fourth over as he brought on Hrithik Shokeen. Prithvi Shaw greeted him with a lovely extra cover drive for four off the first ball. Shokeen though bounced back hard with two dot balls and then had Shaw (15) caught at backward square leg. The young MI all-rounder bowled a very good over and gave away just five runs.
Manish Pandey played three dot balls in the Riley Meredith over but then hit one down the ground for a four. He made it two fours in two balls but this time a fortuitous one as he got an inside edge that flew wide of the leg stump to fine leg.
Shokeen was on the cusp of bowling another fine over but Pandey attacked him off the last two balls and hit two fours over the leg side to make it 9 runs off the over as DC reached 51/1 at the end of the Powerplay. DC got a big 16-run 8th over as Shokeen missed his marker, bowled a no ball, conceded five wides and gave away a four off an inside edge off Manish Pandey. It was an over where Warner went a bit funky and batted right-handed off the Free-Hit delivery but couldn’t connect it off the middle.
DC then lost their way as they lost wickets in a heap. With a steady partnership developing, senior pro Piyush Chawla provided the breakthrough as he had Pandey (26 off 18) caught at long off to break the 43-run stand. One brought two as Meridith sent back debutant Yash Dhull, caught at deep square leg off a short delivery. DC reached 85/3 at the end of 10 overs. The home team lost three wickets in three overs as Chawla trapped Rovman Powell LBW, off a brilliant googly. The batter reviewed it but ball-tracking replays showed it was hitting the leg stump – all three reds.
MI could have had another but Warner got a lifeline as he smashed one to mid off and Chawla couldn’t manage to hold on to a leaping catch, off Green. He, however, picked up his third in the next over as he cleaned up Lalit Yadav with another superb googly. Warner hit the last ball of his spell for a four but the wily spinner finished with excellent figures of 4-0-22-3.
The in-form Axar Patel provided some momentum as he lofted consecutive sixes off Shokeen and cracked a couple of fours off Green. In between, Warner, who had held fort at one end, got to his 50th IPL fifty, off 43 balls.
Axar then went after Behrendorff as he hit one over wide long on for a six off the first ball of his comeback over. Behrendorff could have had Axar back in the pavilion next ball but Suryakumar misjudged one at long on and the ball burst through his hands, onto his head and over the ropes. The DC all-rounder brought up his maiden IPL fifty, off 22 balls, in style as he hit a four and a six off Meredith.
Behrendorff pulled some momentum back in MI’s favour as he sent back Axar Patel (54 off 25) who flicked one straight to deep square leg and then dismissed Warner for 51. Nehal Wadhera made it three wickets in the over with a brilliant direct-hit run out of Kuldeep Yadav and then Abhishek Porel miscued one to mid off to make it four wickets in the penultimate over.
Nortje hit a four in the last over but Meredith hit back hard pegging back his leg stump with a fast and full delivery to bowl DC out for 172. DC scored 62/6 in the last six overs.
DC introduced Mukesh Kumar as their Impact Player, in place of Prithvi Shaw at the start of DC’s bowling innings.
