Until recently, Twenty20 was considered a youngster’s game. But Amit Mishra, Shikhar Dhawan and Steven Smith underlined the worth of seasoned campaigners, playing a vital role in Delhi Capitals avenging last season’s final loss to Mumbai Indians with a six-wicket win in a low-scoring tie on Tuesday.
Sensible approach
While Mishra spun his web around the MI batsmen on a turner at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, helping restrict the defending champion to 137 for nine, Dhawan and Smith batted sensibly to keep DC’s chase on course.
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Despite both batsmen being dismissed at inopportune moments — Smith plumb in front to Kieron Pollard in the 10th over and Dhawan caught on the square boundary off leggie Rahul Chahar in the 15th — Lalit Yadav and Shimron Hetmyer saw DC home with five balls to spare.
Credit must also be given to the DC think-tank for altering the team combination to suit unfamiliar conditions. Playing its first game of the season in Chennai, DC read the turner to perfection and brought in Mishra and Hetmyer in place of Lukman Meriwala and Chris Woakes. The changes proved decisive, overturning captain Rishabh Pant’s luck at the toss.
When Rohit Sharma got off to a flier — tonking Kagiso Rabada onto the roof in the PowerPlay — it seemed as if he would run away with the game before the dew could make life miserable for his bowlers later in the night.
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Mishra, however, changed the course of the contest with three wickets in eight balls. Rohit had to bat deep after losing Quinton de Kock (caught behind off Marcus Stoinis, who opened the attack) and Suryakumar Yadav (dismissed in similar fashion by Avesh Khan). But Mishra deceived the MI skipper and Hardik Pandya with flight and a bit of turn in the ninth over to give DC the advantage. The pitch started showing its true colours from then on, as Mishra got rid of Kieron Pollard with a googly and then had Ishan Kishan, MI’s last hope, chopping on in the 18th over. DC’s chase suffered an early setback. Off-spinner Jayant Yadav, brought in to combat the opposition left-handers, forced the right-handed Prithvi Shaw into a return catch. But a risk-free 53-run partnership between Dhawan and Smith steadied the ship before the latter took a few more risks in the latter half. Despite MI’s recent trend of defending moderate totals, Hetmyer and Lalit, promoted to No. 4, dealt with jittery moments and held their nerve at the death.
Pollard — the stand-in skipper, with Rohit not on the field for most of the chase — bowled a no-ball to give DC the win.
Scoreboard
MUMBAI INDIANS: Rohit Sharma c Smith b Mishra 44 (30b, 3x4, 3x6), Quinton de Kock c Pant b Stoinis 2 (4b), Suryakumar Yadav c Pant b Avesh 24 (15b, 4x4), Ishan Kishan b Mishra 26 (28b, 1x4, 1x6), Hardik Pandya c Smith b Mishra 0 (1b), Krunal Pandya b Lalit 1 (5b), Kieron Pollard lbw b Mishra 2 (5b), Jayant Yadav c & b Rabada 23 (22b, 1x4), Rahul Chahar c Pant b Avesh 6 (6b, 1x4), Jasprit Bumrah (not out) 3 (3b), Trent Boult (not out) 1 (1b); Extras (lb-5): 5.
Total (for nine wkts. in 20 overs): 137.
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-9 (de Kock, 2.1 overs), 2-67 (Suryakumar, 6.6), 3-76 (Rohit, 8.4), 4-77 (Hardik, 8.6), 5-81 (Krunal, 10.4), 6-84 (Pollard, 11.5), 7-123 (Ishan, 17.3), 8-129 (Jayant, 18.5), 9-135 (Rahul Chahar, 19.4).
CAPITALS BOWLING: Stoinis 3-0-20-1, Ashwin 4-0-31-0, Rabada 3-0-25-1, Mishra 4-0-24-4, Avesh 2-0-15-2, Lalit 4-0-17-1.
DELHI CAPITALS: Prithvi Shaw c & b Jayant 7 (5b, 1x4), Shikhar Dhawan c Krunal b Rahul Chahar 45 (42b, 5x4, 1x6), Steve Smith lbw b Pollard 33 (29b, 4x4), Lalit Yadav (not out) 22 (25b, 1x4), Rishabh Pant c Krunal b Bumrah 7 (9b, 1x4), Shimron Hetmyer (not out) 14 (8b, 2x4); Extras (lb-3, nb-3, w-4): 10.
Total (for four wkts. in 19.1 overs): 138.
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-11 (Shaw, 1.3), 2-64 (Smith, 9.2), 3-100 (Dhawan, 14.5), 4-115 (Pant, 16.5).
MUMBAI INDIANS BOWLING: Boult 4-0-23-0, Jayant 4-0-25-1, Bumrah 4-0-32-1, Krunal 2-0-17-0, Rahul Chahar 4-0-29-1, Pollard 1.1-0-9-1.
Toss: MI; MoM: Mishra.
DC won by six wickets with five balls to spare.