Sharjah: A top-notch bowling performance by Avesh Khan (3/15) and Axar Patel (3/21) helped Delhi Capitals restrict Mumbai Indians to a paltry total of 129/8 in the match 46 of the IPL 2021, at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, here Saturday.
Apart from Suryakumar Yadav (33 runs off 26 balls), no other Mumbai batter rose to the occasion for the team.
After being put in to bat first, Mumbai India had a disastrous start as Avesh Khan got the big wicket of Rohit Sharma (7). MI skipper got beaten by the raw pace of Khan and mistimed his pull shot, diving catch to Rabada at third man.
Suryakumar Yadav, who came to bat at No 3, got off the mark in style. He got outside the line of Ashwin’s delivery and swept the Indian spinner over deep square leg for six. Thereafter, both Quinton de Kock and Suryakumar took Mumbai to 35/1 by the end of the powerplay.
However, soon after the powerplay, DC captain brought Axar Patel into the attack and the left-arm spinner gave his team the much-needed breakthrough in his very first over. De Kock (19 off 18) went for a drive over cover but ended up slicing the ball to Nortje at backward point.
Saurabh Tiwari then joined Surya in the middle and they kept the scoreboard ticking. But, Axar struck again and dismissed Yadav in the 11th over.
After getting a decent start, Suryakumar (33 off 26) failed to capitalize and chipped the ball to long-on where Rabada charged in and completed the catch, leaving Mumbai struggling at 68/3.
Continuing his superb bowling spell, Axar then dismissed Tiwary (15 off 18) for his third wicket of the innings. Kieron Pollard (6 off 9), also couldn’t do much and was dismissed by Anrich Nortje in the 15th over. Nortje bowled the leg cutter and Pollard looked to work the ball on the offside off the back foot but he ended up chopping it onto his stumps.
Mumbai were struggling at 87/5 and the Pandya brothers had the responsibility to revive the innings. But, it wasn’t easy as Delhi bowlers kept on bowling with full discipline.
With the last few overs left, both Krunal and Hardik decided to accelerate as they got 12 runs off the 17th over bowled by Rabada and 9 runs in the 18th over, bowled by Nortje.
However, Avesh Khan didn’t allow Mumbai to score freely in the 19th over and got rid of Hardik Pandya 17(18) with the perfect yorker. The pacer also dismissed Coulter-Nile 1(2) in the same over before getting hit for a boundary by Jayant Yadav.
Ashwin bowled the last over for Delhi Capitals and both Jayant Yadav (11 off 4) and Krunal Pandya (13 off 15) hit one sixes each and took Mumbai Indians to 129/8 at the end of 20 overs.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 129-8 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 33; Avesh Khan 3/15, Axar Patel 3/21) against Delhi Capitals