Mumbai Indians put up a fine all-round effort in front of their home crowd to ease themselves into the IPL Playoffs as the fourth-placed team beating Delhi Capitals by 59 runs, at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.
Chasing 181 for victory, the Delhi Capitals were never really in the game losing wickets at regular intervals owing to MI’s disciplined bowling effort as they were bowled out for 121 in 18.2 overs handing the hosts a 59-run win.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians were kept under a tight least by the Delhi Capitals as they were restricted to 180/5 in 20 overs in the crucial IPL clash.
Suryakumar Yadav (73) was the lone warrior for MI as the rest of their batters struggled to get going in front of a cavernous home crowd in full attendance in anticipation of their team’s passage to the Playoffs.
Rohit Sharma slammed an inside out boundary in the first over as Mumbai Indians took seven runs off the first over.
Ryan Rickelton got into the act in the second over as he hoisted Dushmantha Chameera for a straight six over his head to signal his intentions.
Two back-to-back sixes in the second over saw the South African taking on a marauding form as he unleashed mayhem on the Delhi Capitals attack.
Veteran Rohit didn’t last for long as he poked at a Mustafizur Rahman wide ball that got a nick and Abhishek Porel didn’t make much of a mistake taking a catch to his right.
Rickelton was keeping the momentum going for Mumbai Indians as he cracked a couple of boundaries in quick succession in the fourth over.
Will Jacks came to the party when he cracked a four and a six in the fifth over bowled by Mustafizur but perished to Mukesh Kumar in the very next over holing out to Vipraj Nigam running forward at mid off.
MI reached fifty in 5.4 overs losing two wickets and with a lot of work to do in a match they have to win to earn a direct and confirmed qualification for the Playoffs.
Kuldeep Yadav snapped up Rickelton soon after the powerplay overs were completed getting him caught at deep backward square leg by DC debutant Madhav Tiwari.
Nigam was keeping it tight for the Capitals in the 10th over as he wasn’t letting Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma get away.
Varma started breaking the shackles in the 11th over as he deposited Chameera’s delivery behind the wicket for a six with a lap shot played to perfection.
