Avesh-Axar with the ball and Iyer-Ashwin with the bat shine for Delhi Capitals.
Delhi Capitals 132/6 (Iyer 33*, Ashwin 20*, Coulter-Nile 1/19) beat Mumbai Indians 129/8 (Suryakumar 33, Avesh 3-15, Axar 3/21) by four wickets
The 46th match of the 14th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 was played between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals at the Sharjah Cricket Satdium.
Mumbai Indians dropped spin mainstay Rahul Chahar, who looked off-colour in this season of IPL and included all-rounder Jayant Yadav in the eleven, as Delhi Capitals had plenty of left-handed batters. Also, Prithvi Shaw made a comeback for Delhi after missing the last match due to injury.
Axar Patel runs through the batting order of Mumbai
The pitch which was supporting bowlers in the last few matches posed enough challenges to Mumbai batters as MI skipper Rohit Sharma found out when he succumbed to pressure created by the intimidating bowling of Avesh Khan and got caught by Kagiso Rabada at third man.
After an initial burst by speedsters, Delhi skipper Rishabh Pant removed them to bring off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to tackle left-handed opener, Quinton de Kock.
However, left-arm spinner Axar Patel forced De Kock to play in the air towards the backward point, where his Proteas colleague Nortje was waiting for the dolly. One down batter, Suryakumar Yadav, who has had a tough time in this phase of IPL season, struck some thrilling shots over the rope against Ashwin and Rabada, however, he played a cheeky shot to Axar Patel to long-off and was gobbled up by Rabada to make the long walk back to the dugout.
Wickets continue to tumble to keep Mumbai below 130
Delhi skipper Pant continued to maintain pressure on Mumbai batters by getting pace spearhead Rabada to bowl. Whereas Axar Patel sent shockwaves in Mumbai dugout by sending Saurabh Tiwari back on 15 when he was looking to rebuild the innings.
Whenever the middle-order of Mumbai was looking to rebuild the innings, they suffered due to untimely wickets. Explosive finisher Kieron Pollard played on to his stumps to a slow ball by Anrich Nortje to leave the Mumbai innings in tatters.
As Krunal Pandya joined Hardik in the middle, Mumbai fans hoped for an end overs assault by them on Delhi bowlers. However, Delhi pacers kept the Pandya brothers quiet till the 18th over of the innings. In the last two overs, when Hardik was looking to break the shackles, rookie pacer Avesh Khan produced a toe-crushing yorker to shatter his stumps. Also, Avesh blasted out the stumps of Nathan Coulter Nile through extra pace on the penultimate ball of the over.
As Pant didn’t keep any over of pacers to bowl last over of the innings, Ashwin did the honours. He conceded 13 runs in the last over but Mumbai were kept below 130.
Shreyas Iyer, Ashwin take Delhi home from 93/6
As Delhi Capitals started to chase the mediocre target, Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma brought right-arm off-break spinner Jayant Yadav to open the bowling with Trent Boult.
The left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan, who is in the form of his life in this season of IPL was run out courtesy a lightning show by Pollard who demolished the stumps off a direct throw while the batter was stealing a quick single.
As Mumbai attacked Delhi batters with spinners, Krunal picked the wicket of Prithvi Shaw LBW with the help of DRS in only the third over of the innings. Aussie stalwart Steven Smith hammered a humongous six off the delivery of Jasprit Bumrah however, he got bowled by Nathan Coulter Nile as his shuffle across the off stump left his leg stump open to the bowler.
As Delhi were struggling to get going at 30/3, the duo of Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer came together to repair the innings. Pant soon played a shot into the hands of Hardik Pandya positioned at long on, to leave Delhi struggling at 55/4. Even though wickets kept tumbling at the other end, Iyer stayed put till the last over.
Jasprit Bumrah sent Shimron Hetmyer back to the hut in the 14th over. This was when Ashwin joined hands with Shreyas Iyer in the middle to stitch a match-winning partnership of 39 runs for Delhi. When four runs were needed in the last over, Ashwin smacked the ball over the rope over mid-wicket to win the match for Delhi Capitals.
Delhi Capitals move to 18 points
Delhi Capitals consolidated their position at the second spot by achieving two more points after defeating Mumbai Indians. They can book their spot in the top two with another win in the next two games to play the first qualifier at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on October 10.
However, Mumbai now find themselves at number six with only 10 points in 12 games. With only two games remaining for Mumbai Indians, they can reach a maximum of 14 points in this season of IPL if they win the remaining two games. Their qualification will now depend on how other teams perform from hereon in.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are engaged in a battle with Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in the second match of the day.
Twitter Reactions as Delhi Capitals beat Mumbai Indians
Delhi Capitals beat Mumbai Indians by four wickets in 46th match of IPL 2021. Axar Patel gets Player of the Match for his 3/21. Shreyas Iyer was acknowledged by many cricket fans and former players for his matured 33-run innings. He took the Delhi Capitals home in a tense chase.
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