Suryakumar Yadav and Naman Dhir’s quickfire partnership changed the course of the virtual quarterfinal. The Delhi Capitals didn’t recover from the deadly blows as Mumbai Indians sealed the only remaining place in the Indian Premier League Playoffs with an emphatic 59-run win at the Wankhede Stadium.
The sky stayed clear despite an adverse weather warning, paving the way for Mumbai Indians’ SKY (Suryakumar) to extend his record run. While the runs poured in courtesy Suryakumar and Dhir during their 57-run unbroken stand in 21 balls, Mitchell Santner’s left-arm spin blew Delhi Capitals’ away.
Santner’s magic spell of three for 11 overshadowed his DC spin counterparts, Vipraj Nigam and Kuldeep Yadav, on the centre-pitch that perfectly aided spin. He accounted for Nigam, promoted in the absence of Capitals’ captain Axar Patel who was down with flu, by cramping him for room in the eighth over.
The blow ensured MI’s good work in the Powerplay – with stand-in captain Faf du Plessis skying Deepak Chahar, Boult forcing KL Rahul to nick one that was moving away and Will Jacks continuing his left-arm specialist by drawing Abishek Porel out of the crease – was built on.
With Jasprit Bumrah striking in the middle overs, Santner sounded the death-knell with a double strike in his last over.
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For the first 18 overs of MI’s batting essay, however, the home team was far from being assured of a Playoffs place. Even after Dhir, the designated finisher, joined Suryakumar, who equalled Temba Bavuma’s record of most consecutive 25-plus scores in T20 cricket with his 13th such achievement of the season, in the middle, the runs hadn’t started flowing.
Kuldeep and Nigam ensured the Capitals didn’t miss Axar, the bowler, by returning combined figures of 8-0-47-2. Suryakumar waited for the pace to be reintroduced, and the in-form batter and Dhir went after Mukesh Kumar and Dushmantha Chameera. So fierce was their onslaught on Mukesh in the penultimate over that the over cost 27 runs, six more than the number of runs he had conceded in his first three overs.
The duo added 21 more off Chameera in the last over to peg Capitals back. And the visiting team never recovered from the lusty hits.
