As Mumbai Indians defeated Delhi Capitals by six wickets on the final ball of a thrilling match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday, veteran leg-spinner Piyush Chawla and left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff picked up 3/22 and 3/23, respectively, while captain Rohit Sharma was at his vintage best with a 45-ball 65, also his first half-century in the IPL after 25 innings.
Mumbai has now earned their first points in the league thanks to the win, while Delhi has now lost four straight games. In Delhi’s 172 in 19.4 overs, Axar Patel and David Warner scored opposing fifties, while Anrich Nortje and Mustafizur Rahman bowled masterfully in the last two overs. On the last ball, Tim David defeated Mumbai with Cameron Green by his side.
Mumbai got off to a flying start with hitting 42/0 in their three overs as opposed to Delhi’s 29/0. In a 14-run first over, Rohit was at his very best, timing the ball well and selecting the distances with lightning speed.
Ishan Kishan, on the other hand, got off to a fast start with hitting three boundaries against Mustafizur through the off-side. Rohit skillfully blasted a six and two fours over wide long-on after striking Nortje for two fours and a two.
The Mumbai skipper showed creativity with his reverse-sweep off the left-arm spinner as Mumbai concluded power-play with 68 for no loss. Rohit and Ishan each struck two boundaries off Axar Patel and Lalit Yadav.
Ishan was run out at the non-end striker’s in the eighth over, ending the 71-run opening partnership. Before reaching his fifty in 29 balls, Rohit bowled the shot of the game by lifting Nortje high over deep mid-wicket for six in the ninth over.
As Tilak Varma danced down the field to smash a magnificent lofted shot over long-off for six off Kuldeep Yadav, Rohit applauded him. The 12th over was subsequently brought to a conclusion by Rohit hard-sweeping Kuldeep over deep backward square leg for four.
Mumbai got off to the best possible start in the 16th over as Varma cut Mukesh Kumar over backward point for four, followed by eye-catching sixes over deep mid-wicket and extra cover. Nevertheless, Mukesh came back by getting Suryakumar Yadav to drive a short ball straight to fine leg for a golden duck and Varma to slog straight to deep mid-wicket.
In the 17th over, Mustafizur was cut off by Rohit, and Abhishek Porel dived to his right to grab a spectacular one-handed catch. 15 runs came off the 19th over as Green and David slammed Mustafizur for sixes over deep mid-wicket and long-on with 18 required off nine balls.
When Delhi overturned an on-field wide ruling, David was dropped by Mukesh in the penultimate over, and two runs were required off the last ball. Mumbai were able to end their losing streak in IPL 2023 despite Porel ripping off the bails after David’s frantic dive for the second run.
When Delhi was in danger at 98/5 in 12.3 overs, Axar came in to slam 54 off 25 balls, his maiden IPL fifty, smacking four fours and five easy sixes. Warner got off to a good start but failed to get up speed and played the role of the anchor in his unimpressive 51 off 47 balls. With two balls still unused and their last five wickets falling for only seven runs, Delhi was undone by a poor finish.
Prithvi Shaw seemed impressive throughout his flowing drives but was defeated by Hrithik Shokeen after being square-leg swept. At first, Warner was brutal on whatever the bowlers offered with breadth while nailing his pulls and slogs. Manish Pandey, on the other end, excelled with his on-drives, used his feet well against spinners, and had some success with edges going for boundaries.
During the first break, Pandey glided down the pitch to loft off Chawla, but in the ninth over, he holed out to long-off. Yash Dhull’s four-ball IPL debut came to an end when sprinting deep mid-wicket collected his flick off the hips off a slower ball from Riley Meredith. Rovman Powell was then caught by Chawla’s googly, going deep.
In the 12th over, Warner was given a chance as Chawla failed to hold onto his catch at mid-off and failed to complete a run-out despite a mix-up with Lalit Yadav. By tempting Lalit into flight and uprooting his leg-stump with a slower googly, Chawla made up for the missed opportunity. Warner then hit a slog sweep off Chawla for four and reached his fifty in 43 deliveries.
On the other end, Axar displayed his skill with the bat by hitting Green past cover and down the ground for a pair of fours before smashing Shokeen for back-to-back inside-out sixes.
Next, against Behrendorff, Axar smashed two successive sixes over long on, the second of which Suryakumar dropped and took a blow to the face, leaving the pitch right away. In order to defeat Meredith, he first hooked through short fine leg for four, then smacked a six down the middle on a no-ball to reach fifty in 22 balls.
With the exception of Kuldeep Yadav getting run out by mid-on, Mumbai recovered in the 19th over as Behrendorff had Axar hole out to deep square leg, Warner give a top-edge to short third man, and Abishek Porel miscue to mid-off. That was the first occasion a team batting first was bowled out thanks to Anrich Nortje’s castled catch by Meredith in the last over.
Quick Scores: Mumbai Indians 173/4 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 65, Tilak Varma 41; Mukesh Kumar 2/30, Mustafizur Rahman 1/38) defeated Delhi Capitals 172 in 19.4 overs (Axar Patel 54, David Warner 51; Piyush Chawla 3-22, Jason Behrendorff 3/23) by six wickets.
