Suryakumar Yadav played a second match-winning knock of the week to help Mumbai Indians cruise to a comfortable victory against Delhi Capitals and emerge as clear leader in the Indian Premier League points table.
Suryakumar’s 53 (32b, 6x4, 1x6) ensured that Quinton de Kock’s quickfire fifty (53, 36b, 4x4, 3x6) didn’t go waste as Mumbai Indians hunted down the target of 163 with five wickets and two balls to spare at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Easing the pressure
When de Kock mistimed a sweep to Prithvi Shaw at deep square in the 10th over, the winning mark was still 86 runs away. But, on a slowish pitch, Suryakumar and Ishan Kishan kept hitting the boundaries to ease the pressure.
Suryakumar used the crease effectively to sent Kagiso Rabada through third-man for a four followed by a whip over long-leg for a six that fetched him his fifty.
However, he perished in the last ball of the 15th over and the Capitals captain Shreyas Iyer pouched a skier. By then, however, the target was well in sight with 33 runs required off five overs. Despite a bit of a stutter, Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya saw their team through in the last over.
Capitals handed debut caps to Ajinkya Rahane and Alex Carey. Shikhar Dhawan (69 n.o., 52b, 6x4, 1x6) took the onus of batting through the innings after Prithvi Shaw and Rahane succumbed in the PowerPlay.
But Shreyas holing out in the deep in the 15th over after a partnership of 84 runs with Dhawan gave MI a chance to put the brakes. And a needless run out of Marcus Stoinis in the 17th over meant MI tightened the screws, conceding only 35 runs in the last four overs.
Scoreboard
Delhi Capitals Innings: Prithvi Shaw c Krunal Pandya b Boult 4; Shikhar Dhawan not out 69; Ajinkya Rahane lbw b Krunal Pandya 15; Shreyas Iyer c Boult b Krunal Pandya 42; Marcus Stoinis run out (Yadav/Chahar) 13; Alex Carey not out 14. Extras: (W-5) 5
Total: (for 4 wickets in 20 overs) 162
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-24, 3-109, 4-130
Mumbai Indians bowling: Trent Boult 4-0-36-1, James Pattinson 3-0-37-0, Jasprit Bumrah 4-0-26-0, Krunal Pandya 4-0-26-2, Kieron Pollard 1-0-10-0, Rahul Chahar 4-0-27-0.
Mumbai Indians Rohit Sharma c Rabada b Axar 5 (12b) , Quinton de Kock c Shaw b Ashwin 53 (36b, 4x4, 3x6) , Suryakumar Yadav c Shreyas b Rabada 53 (32b, 6x4, 1x6) , Ishan Kishan c Axar b Rabada 28 (15b, 2x4, 2x6) , Hardik Pandya c Carey b Stoinis 0 (2b) , Kieron Pollard (not out) 11 (14b, 1x4) , Krunal Pandya (not out) 12 (7b, 2x4) ; Extras (w-4): 4; Total (for five wkts. in 19.4 overs): 166.
Fall of wickets 1-31 (Rohit, 4.6 overs), 2-77 (de Kock, 9.5), 3-130 (Suryakumar, 14.6), 4-130 (Hardik, 15.2), 5-152 (Ishan, 17.3).
Capitals bowling Rabada 4-0-28-2, Nortje 4-0-28-0, Axar 3-0-24-1, Ashwin 4-0-35-1, Harshal 2-0-20-0, Stoinis 2.4-0-31-1.
Toss: DC; MoM: de Kock.
MI won by five wickets with two balls to spare .
