Mumbai Indians 166 for 5 (de Kock 53, Yadav 53, Rabada 2-28) beat Delhi Capitals 162 for 4 (Dhawan 69*, Iyer 42, Krunal Pandya 2-26) by five wickets
A top of the table clash that promised much had its share of thrills, but ended with the Mumbai Indians riding on an excellent bowling performance and proactive half-centuries from Quinton de Kock and Suryakumar Yadav to ease past the Delhi Capitals by five wickets. De Kock and Yadav made 53 each, but the Capitals attack still managed to drag the chase till the final over. However, in the end, their batsmen had not given them enough to defend. And Mumbai hauled in the target in 19.4 overs to flip places with the Capitals on the points table.
Yadav had come into this game on the back of a magnificent match-winning 79* against the Rajasthan Royals, and his first ball was flicked effortlessly off his legs and into the gap at deep square-leg for a boundary. De Kock was already motoring along by the time Yadav faced his first ball. He had started opening out in fourth over against R Ashwin, negating the previously favourable match-up the bowler had against him with a six and a four. Both men struck the ball beautifully, to keep Mumbai’s chase healthy. While de Kock took the lead initially with some aggressive shot-making, Yadav ensured there was no sagging of momentum when de Kock eventually fell to Ashwin.
Yadav was caught off Kagiso Rabada with five overs left, but by then he had brought the equation down to almost a run a ball. The depth in Mumbai’s batting meant that despite two further wickets, they were always in control of the chase.
The Mumbai bowlers’ excellence had given their batsmen a relatively easy chase. They tied down the Capitals right through their innings and there was never a period when they could break free. In contrast, the Mumbai batsmen were a lot more positive, particularly de Kock and Yadav. Both men actively looked to go over the infield, and throw the bowlers off their lengths by using the crease. Intent has been overused to the point of being a cliché, but intent is exactly what Mumbai showed and the Capitals lacked. For example. Shikhar Dhawan batted through the innings for Capitals but made only 69 off 52.
The Capitals were also hurt by the absence of two key batsmen. Rishabh Pant was out injured, which meant they had to bring in Alex Carey to don the gloves, and Carey’s entry meant Shimron Hetmyer had to sit out too. Ajinkya Rahane got his first game of IPL 2020 as a result.
Dhawan, Iyer stand gives Delhi the platform
Prithvi Shaw chipped Trent Boult to cover in the first over and Rahane’s IPL 2020 entry didn’t go too well either, trapped lbw by Krunal Pandya for a run-a-ball 15. Shreyas Iyer joined Dhawan at 24 for 2 in the fifth over, and the duo set about building steadily. While their initial tactic seemed to be to knock the ball around without taking risks, they did punish errors in line and length so that the run rate didn’t stagnate. That worked up to a point, but where the Capitals felt the pinch was that neither of the set batsmen could accelerate in the second half, even though they still ended up putting on a good stand of 85 in 10.2 overs. When Iyer was out, they were 109 for 3 in 14.4 overs and it looked like a good finish could happen with the in-form Marcus Stoinis walking in. He was the one batsman in the line-up who was in excellent boundary-hitting form, and though he did hit a couple during his stay, he was run-out in a mix up with Dhawan, which seriously impacted the Capitals ability to finish big.
More to follow…
Source: ESPN Crickinfo