The slow pitch at Sharjah resulted in a thriller between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals in the first match of the Saturday doubleheader. Delhi prevailed to strengthen their second position in the table, whereas Mumbai Indians remained in sixth position and now have to depend on other results to ensure their qualification.
Rishabh Pant won the toss and decided to field. Delhi brought in Prithvi Shaw for Lalit Yadav, while Mumbai replaced Rahul Chahar with Jayant Yadav. The Delhi bowlers were accurate from the start, keeping the Mumbai batters under pressure. The impressive Avesh Khan had Rohit Sharma mistiming a pull for just 7, in the second over. Suryakumar Yadav showed some form, top-scoring for MI with 33. He added 29 with Quinton de Kock and 31 with Saurabh Tiwary but failed to pull the run rate above 7.
De Kock (19), Tiwary (15), and Suryakumar all fell to Axar Patel, who utilised the conditions well to deliver a Player-of-the-Match-winning 4-0-21-3. Anrich Nortje then clean bowled Kieron Pollard for 6 to reduce MI to 87/5. Avesh (4-0-15-3) returned to clean bowl Hardik Pandya and Nathan Coulter-Nile with two brilliant deliveries. At one stage, it looked like Mumbai might not reach 120, but Krunal Pandya and Jayant Yadav took them to 129/8.
Delhi were rocked early in their chase. A direct hit from Pollard at the Cover found Shikhar Dhawan short of his crease for 8. In the next over, Shaw was pinned in front by Krunal, and Rohit used DRS to claim the second wicket. Coulter-Nile then bowled Steven Smith round the legs for 9, and Delhi were 30/3.
Shreyas Iyer joined Rishabh Pant, and the pair took control. The calm Iyer never let the asking rate dictate his batting. He held one end up as batters tried to score quickly at the other. Pant got 26 in 22 balls with 3 fours and a six before being caught by Hardik at long-on off Jayant, while Shimron Hetmyer got an 8-ball 15. Iyer, meanwhile, kept rotating the strike despite the change of partners.
Delhi needed 37 in 41 balls when Hetmyer fell. R. Ashwin joined Iyer, and the pair focused on singles. Iyer’s only two fours came in the 17th and 18th over, while Ashwin’s only boundary was the match-sealing six off Krunal off the first ball of the final over. Iyer remained unbeaten on 33-ball 33 whereas Ashwin’s 20 runs came from 21 deliveries.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 129/8 in 20 overs (Suryakumar 33; Avesh 3-15) lost to Delhi Capitals 132/6 in 19.1 overs (Iyer 33*; Krunal 1-18) by 4 wickets with 5 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Axar Patel.