Mumbai Indians 111 for 1 (Kishan 72*, Nortje 1-25) beat Delhi Capitals 110 for 9 (Iyer 25, Pant 21, Bumrah 3-17, Boult 3-21) by nine wickets
The Mumbai Indians finally broke their Dubai hoodoo, and how!
First, Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult combined to take 6 for 38 in eight overs to strangle Delhi Capitals to 110 for 9. Then Ishan Kishan struck an unbeaten 72 off 47, taking the likes of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje apart on his way, to take his side home with nine wickets and 36 balls to spare.
The win has ensured the Mumbai Indians a top-two finish in the league stage. On the other hand, the Capitals have now lost four games on the trot, and while they can still finish second on the points table, their net run rate, for now, has slipped below the Kings XI Punjab's.
Boult removes Dhawan, Shaw early
How fickle form can be in T20s was evident once again on Saturday. After scoring back-to-back hundreds, Shikhar Dhawan has now two ducks in his last two outings. He was out for a golden duck against Sunrisers Hyderabad, and here he lasted two balls as he failed to keep down a cut against Boult and Suryakumar Yadav took a low catch at point. It was referred to third umpire and there was no conclusive evidence to overturn the on-field soft signal of out.
Shaw, who replaced Ajinkya Rahane in the playing XI, didn't last long either as Boult cut short his stay in his next over. Backing away to a short-of-length delivery, Shaw went for a pull only to slice it high to the wicketkeeper's left.
From the other end, spinners Krunal Pandya and Jayant Yadav hit the hard lengths to keep things quiet as the Capitals finished the powerplay on 22 for 2, the second-lowest powerplay total in IPL 2020.
Chahar, Bumrah dent Capitals' recovery
Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant tried to stage a recovery but the runs were not coming freely. After the third over, the Capitals hit only one boundary - a six by Iyer off Jayant - till the tenth. They limped to 49 for 2 at the halfway mark of their innings, but the silver lining was the eight wickets in hand.
Rahul Chahar and Bumrah though shattered any hopes of a revival. Chahar lured forward Iyer with a flighted legbreak before beating him with the turn; Quinton de Kock effected the stumping with Iyer's foot centimetres off the ground.
After that Bumrah breathed fire. He sent back both Marcus Stoinis - a thick outside edge to de Kock - and Pant - lbw from around the wicket - in the same over to leave the Capitals 62 for 5 in the 12th over. Harshal Patel though was unlucky to become Bumrah's third victim. He was deemed lbw by umpire Paul Reiffel but replays showed the ball hit him high on the back thigh and would have gone over the stumps. The wicket though took Bumrah's tally for the season to 23, helping him draw level with the purple-cap holder Rabada.
Nathan Coulter-Nile then dismissed Shimron Hetmyer to reduce the Capitals to 78 for 7 before R Ashwin and Rabada dragged the score past 100.
A straightforward chase
It was never going to be a tough ask for Mumbai Indians, even though they were without Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya. The Capitals needed early wickets to make something out of it and once they didn't get those, it was just a matter of time.
Despite the ball not coming on to the bat early in the innings, Kishan pulled Nortje for two fours in the fourth over, while de Kock kept playing risk-free cricket at the other end. The duo took the Mumbai Indians to 68 in 10.1 overs, and another ten-wicket win was almost on the horizon before de Kock played on Nortje.
Iyer brought back Rabada as a last throw of the dice but Kishan hit his first ball over cover for six and brought up his fifty - off 37 balls - on the next. The winning shot, Kishan hitting Nortje over deep midwicket for six, was symbolic of the Mumbai Indians' dominance.
