Mumbai Indians clinched a thrilling six-wicket victory against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, led by their skipper Rohit Sharma. Rohit scored 65 runs off 45 balls, his first half-century in the IPL after 25 innings. This victory earned Mumbai their first points in the competition, while Delhi suffered their fourth consecutive loss.
In an unusual turn of events during Warner's innings, the left-handed opener changed his stance to a right-handed one in the eighth over while facing MI's Hrithik Shokeen. Unfortunately, the change in stance did not benefit him, as he mistimed his shot and could only score one run off the free-hit.
Delhi's shaky innings
Coming to the game, Delhi were in trouble at 98/5 in 12.3 overs, and Axar walked in to smack 54 off 25 balls, hitting four fours and five effortless sixes in what was his first IPL fifty. Warner began well but struggled to accelerate and played an anchor role to make an unconvincing 51 off 47 balls.
Mumbai's bowling struggled in power-play, but veteran leg-spinner Piyush Chawla got turn from a dry pitch to pick 3/22, while left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff finished with 3/23 as Delhi's last five wickets fell for just seven runs, with two balls left unused.
Bright start by Mumbai
Mumbai had a scorching start by reaching 42/0 in three overs compared to Delhi's 29/0. Rohit played remarkably well, timing the ball efficiently, and hitting two fours and a six in a 14-run opening over. Ishan Kishan contributed by hitting three boundaries through the off-side against Mustafizur Rahman, while Rohit whipped Anrich Nortje's ball over wide long-on elegantly for a six.
Mumbai finished the power-play with 68 for no loss, with Rohit being innovative in his reverse-sweep off the left-arm spinner, Axar Patel. The opening partnership came to an end when Ishan got run-out at the non-striker's end in the eighth over, but Rohit continued to dominate. He got his fifty in 29 balls and produced the shot of the match by pulling Anrich Nortje high over deep mid-wicket for six in the ninth over.
Tilak Varma also made a significant contribution by hitting sixes over deep mid-wicket and extra cover, but Mumbai suffered a setback when Varma and Suryakumar Yadav got out in quick succession.
However, Cameron Green and Tim David slogged Mustafizur for a six each over deep mid-wicket and long-on, as 15 runs came off the 19th over. David was dropped by Mukesh in the final over, and Mumbai needed two runs off the last ball. David made a desperate dive for the second run, and despite Porel taking off the bails, Mumbai finally won their first match in IPL 2023.
