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Suryakumar Yadav’s gritty 73 not out was the turning point as Mumbai Indians clinched the fourth and last play-off spot with a 59-run thrashing of Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League here on Wednesday.
New Delhi: Suryakumar Yadav’s gritty 73 not out was the turning point as Mumbai Indians clinched the fourth and last play-off spot with a 59-run thrashing of Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League here on Wednesday.
Suryakumar’s masterclass — a 43-ball innings with seven fours and half a dozen sixes during a challenging situation — set up for an overwhelming victory. The five-time champions had not reached the play-offs last year.
But the visitors were also culpable of a weak response in a do-or-die game which saw their top-order dismantled in the powerplay, the rest of the game essentially becoming a formality.
Pursuing 181, Delhi Capitals, sans regular skipper Axar Patel in this match, were over for 121 in 18.2 overs with Sameer Rizvi (39) being the highest scorer.
Mitchell Santner was the best among the Mumbai Indians bowlers, giving 4-0-11-3 and dismissing Rizvi, Vipraj Nigam (20) and Ashutosh Sharma (18). Jasprit Bumrah had another good day out as he gave 3.2-0-12-3.
Suryakumar built two vital stands that rescued a struggling innings. One, in the midst of a dogged patch of play with DC’s spinners running the show, Suryakumar and Tilak Varma added 55 runs for the fourth wicket. In the death overs, discovered an ideal partner in Dhir (24 off 8 balls, 2x4s, 2x6s) to contribute another 57 runs from just 21 balls.
The tables turned drastically in the last two overs when the Indian T20 skipper Suryakumar and Dhir hit a grand total of five sixes and four boundaries to add 48 runs, shifting the momentum completely in MI’s favour.
However, at one stage it all looked far too difficult for the Mumbai batters who struggled right from the end of the powerplay until the 18th over began.
Rohit Sharma (5) was dismissed for the fourth time this season by a left-arm pacer, edging one back off Mustafizur Rahman (1/30), Ryan Rickelton (25) and Will Jacks (21) also fell after having made good starts while Tilak compiled a hard-grafted run-a-ball 27.
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