Mumbai Indians (MI) beat Delhi Capitals (DC) by 29 runs in yesterday’s IPL 2024 match at the Wankhede in Mumbai to register their first win of the tournament. Sent into bat after losing the toss, MI posted 234-5, thanks to a good all-round batting effort before restricting DC to 205-8.
No half century from any batter still Mumbai made 234
Mumbai got off to a blazing start, with openers Rohit Sharma (49 off 27) and Ishan Kishan (42 off 23) adding 80 in seven overs. Rohit struck Jhye Richardson for consecutive sixes in the fourth over before whacking Lalit Yadav for three fours as MI ended the powerplay at 75-0. The stand was broken when Axar Patel got one to skid through after pitching and knocked over Rohit. Suryakumar Yadav (0)’s comeback lasted two balls as he miscued a length ball from Anrich Nortje towards mid-on. Kishan began the 11th over by slog-sweeping Axar for a maximum, but the DC left-arm pacer had his revenge the very next ball, plucking a one-handed stunner to send Kishan on his way. Tilak Varma fell to Khaleel Ahmed for 6, while Hardik Pandya struggled in his 33-ball 39. However, Tim David (45* off 21) and Romario Shepherd (39* off 10) featured in a blazing 53-run stand for the sixth wicket. While David struck two fours and four sixes, Shepherd was exceptional in the last over bowled by Nortje, clobbering the DC pacer for four sixes and two fours as 32 runs came off it. The last over made the difference in the match. It took Mumbai above the par score.
Delhi Capitals fall well short despite Shaw, Stubbs fifties
Chasing 235, DC needed to get off to a rapid start. Instead, David Warner fell for 10 off 8, miscuing a slower ball from Shepherd to mid-on. Shaw (66 off 40) and Abishek Porel (41 off 31) added 88 for the second wicket, but the latter failed to score at a swift pace. Shaw took on Piyush Chawla and slammed him for a six and two fours in the eighth over. He reached his half-century in the next over by pulling Gerald Coetzee for four. The second-wicket partnership ended when Jasprit Bumrah cleaned up Shaw with a toe-crushing yorker. Porel was the next to go, miscuing a full toss off Bumrah to long-on. Stubbs hammered three fours and seven sixes in his unbeaten 71 off 25 to reduce the margin of defeat even as Coetzee helped himself to four wickets, including that of DC skipper Rishabh Pant (1). In the end Stubbs fought alone, if he would have got support from any another batter the result would have been different. People were excited to see young batter Kumar Kushagara but he was sent to bat very late, on his debut he got out for a duck. The batter would like to comeback in the next match.