In need of a win to assure themselves of a playoff berth, Shreyas Iyer and Delhi Capitals (DC) had the worst possible start against Mumbai Indians (MI) in Dubai on Saturday, 31 October. Seasoned pacers Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah were on song and so was Rahul Chahar as Delhi lost their way.
Boult struck in the first over to remove an in-form Shikhar Dhawan for 0 and soon enough, a rash shot ended Prithvi Shaw’s stint on 10.
Captain Iyer (25) with Rishabh Pant (21) in tow put on 35 runs for the third wicket and failed to find the boundaries as regularly as they would have hoped.
Chahar’s consistent probing bowling eventually got him Iyer’s wicket, but it was all down to the lightning fast hands of Quinton de Kock – Iyer’s right boot was centimetres off the ground as the South African whipped off the bails to leave Delhi reeling.
Sensing the chase to further tighten the screws, Kieron Pollard turned to Jasprit Bumrah, who responded immediately with the wicket of Marcus Stoinis. The pace ace wasn’t done yet and trapped India teammate Rishabh Pant LBW before beating the bat of Harshal Patel a couple of times, too.
In his next over, Bumrah picked up his third wicket of the game as Patel, too, was given an LBW for 5. After 14 overs, Delhi, who failed to recover from the early blows, were 73/6, with more than a few frowning faces in the dugout.
Mumbai, perfect in the field after Pollard won the toss however, were faced with a bit of resistance from Shimron Hetmyer (11), R Ashwin (12) and Kagiso Rabada (12) in the final overs. But a brilliant catch from Krunal Pandya dismissed Ashwin before Bumrah rounded off the innings with a fine final over, running out Rabada off the last delivery.
Delhi have to try to win the game to bag a slot in the playoffs, but they also need to ensure Mumbai don’t chase the target down inside 15 overs because if that happens, then their net run date will fall below that of KXIP's. Punjab are currently ranked fourth in the standings, tied on points with Delhi, but having played one match more.
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