IPL 2020 :Mumbai Indians crush Delhi Capitals by 57 runs to reach Finals

Mumbai Indians 200 for 5 (Kishan 55*, Suryakumar 51, de Kock 40, Ashwin 3-29) beat Delhi Capitals 143 for 8 (Stoinis 65, Axar 42, Bumrah 4-14, Bout 2-9) by 57 runs

There is not stopping for Mumbai Indians in 2020 IPL, the defending champions crushed Delhi Capitals by 57 runs in qualifier 1 to reach second consecutive finals. Jasprit Bumrah claims 4 wickets for 14 runs in 4 overs for Mumbai Indians. The finals will be on 10th November.

Mumbai were asked to bat first, meaning their bowlers had to deal with the dew in the second half, but their batsmen offset that disadvantage by muscling them to an above-par 200 for 5.

During a sideline interview, their coach Mahela Jayawardene said that they were eyeing 170; they got 30 more. Quinton de Kock provided the early thrust at the top, along with Suryakumar Yadav, before R Ashwin’s vintage spell of 4-0-29-3 briefly pulled them back. Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya, though, provided a blockbuster finish by taking 60 together off a mere 23 balls. Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah then made Mumbai’s already tall total of 200 like the Burj Khalifa by leaving them 0 for 3.

Boult had Prithvi Shaw edging behind and Ajinkya Rahane trapped in front in a stellar double-wicket maiden. Rohit Sharma let Bumrah loose with the new ball at the other end and he responded by yorking Shikhar Dhawan for a duck as well. Just like that the challenges of bowling second became a non-factor, and when Rishabh Pant holed out, the Capitals were 41 for 5 in the eighth over, their chase all but over.

While Mumbai will now rest for three days, the Capitals will move to Abu Dhabi to face the winner of the Eliminator between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad for another crack at the final.

de Kock, Suryakumar shines again

Mumbai suffered an early jolt when Ashwin found turn with the new ball and pinned Sharma in front of his stumps for a golden duck. de Kock and Yadav, however, kept going after the bowlers in the powerplay. de Kock drove left-arm seamer Daniel Sams through mid-on for a brace of fours and even drilled Ashwin through the covers.

The Capitals had picked Sams over Shimron Hetmyer in the XI seemingly so that they could hold back Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje for the slog overs against Kieron Pollard and the Pandya brothers. But since Sams conceded 15 runs in his first over, the Capitals had to bring on both Rabada and Nortje slightly earlier. Yadav got into his groove with a dismissive short-arm pulled four of Nortje and then launched a paused-and-delivered offbreak from Ashwin for six over mid-off. Yadav and de Kock kept picking their spots, pushing Mumbai to 63 for 1 in the powerplay.

Ashwin was carrying a hamstring injury into the Capitals’ last league fixture against the Royal Challengers, and had to clear a fitness test to take part in the first Qualifier. Despite the injury concerns, he bowled with great rhythm, getting the ball to dip, drift and turn. In the eighth over, de Kock charged at him, but Ashwin found sharp dip, coaxing a toe-ended catch to long-off.

In his next over, the 13th of the innings, he was up against the promoted Kieron Pollard. Ashwin’s first ball to him was a carrom ball, which Pollard dragged to long-on for a duck. In a game where all the other Capitals frontline bowlers went for at least nine an over, Ashwin had an economy rate of 7.25 while picking up the big wickets of Sharma, de Kock, and Pollard.

The Kishan-Hardik finish High

Kishan was on 10 off 13 balls at one point. The Capitals didn’t want to expose the left-arm spin of Axar Patel to the two left-hand batsmen, Kishan and Krunal Pandya, so they gave Marcus Stoinis a go. The Australia allrounder stepped up with a five-run over that also included the wicket of Krunal. Kishan and Hardik, however, revved up to top gear, using the extra pace of Rabada and Nortje to their advantage. Kishan rode the bounce of a chest-high delivery from Rabada and pulled it for six before dinking a 150kph delivery from Nortje to the third-man boundary.

As for Hardik, he walloped five sixes in 14 balls, finishing with an unbeaten 37 at a strike rate of nearly 265.

Delhi collapse, a known story

Boult could bowl just two overs before leaving the field because of a groin complaint, but he still had enough time to grab two wickets. Bumrah, meanwhile, took out the other three in the Capitals’ top five. After Krunal got rid of Pant, the Capitals were in danger of being skittled for a sub-100 score, but Stoinis and Patel helped them avoid the ignominy by putting on 71 off 44 balls for the sixth wicket. It was Bumrah who snapped that stand when he bowled Stoinis for 65 in the 16th over. Bumrah ended with 4 for 14, the Capitals with 143 for 8.

Post-Match Comments:

Jasprit Bumrah, Man of the Match and the purple cap holder:

“I am okay with not getting wickets and winning the tournament. I don’t look at the wickets. I have been given a role, and I try to execute that. Take it ball by ball. I felt the opening yorker was very important. I had decided I was going to do that. When it comes off like that, it feels great. Early wickets are important especially with the dew coming in. I usually don’t focus on the end result. Whenever I have tried to focus on the end result, it goes downhill. This is the first time I have played with Trent, our conversations have been very good. He is a very skilful bowler. We discuss different fields, the different ways to bowl, and what to do in different situations. I am not great on awards.”

Rohit Sharma:

“I guess this was our best so far. The way we came out with the intent. The way de Kock and Surya batted after we lost a wicket in the second over, the way we closed out, and then the clinical bowling. We never had any target in mind because we are a different team, and we want to play in a different. We wanted to play as it comes. We wanted to start well. Losing my wicket in the second over was great, but then de Kock and Surya turned the momentum towards us. In T20 we always talk about momentum. We never want the momentum to shift towards the opposition. Ishan has been in great form so we wanted him to be positive. So the message was clear to him in the timeout. Please don’t be afraid to put the pressure back. Back your instinct. Having such a versatile squad it gives me the luxury to change the batting order and rotate the bowlers. I have not seen Trent yet but he looks okay. It is a big game coming up but we just wanted him to be okay for the next game. He looks okay. I am sure he will be on the park on the 10th. When you have bowlers like Bumrah, it makes your life easy. And Bumrah and Boult are in top form. When they play for different countries and franchises, they have different plans. Hats off to them for buying into our plans and executing them so well.”

Shreyas Iyer:

“Very tough. I don’t want to talk anything negative about the side, but going forward we have to make sure we come out with a solid mindset. We were on top of the game especially in that phase when we got two wickets, and they were 110 for in 13 or 14 overs. That is when we should have capitalised more. We could have chased 170 on this wicket. It is part and parcel of the game. Every night can’t be yours. We just talk about the opportunities we have. It is not easy to be in the bubble and follow the same routine every day. The practice we have put in, the hard work, it is really tremendous. Ashwin was brilliant. He is always there, offering something for the team. He plays with the batsmen’s minds. Great to have his inputs as a captain. All the batsmen in their team are in great touch, especially when Hardik and Pollard come down the order, and their top-order batsmen have full freedom and are in great form. So it is not easy to control them.”