It is getting tougher and tougher for Mumbai Indians (MI) to pull off their typical comeback and make it to the top four on the points table. MI’s batting lineup disappointed once again as they posted a mediocre total of 129/8 after they were put to bat first. Despite top order’s failure, Delhi Capitals (DC) held their nerves and finished the run chase with five balls to spare.
Avesh, Axar do serious damage
The uncapped Avesh Khan got the first breakthrough in the form of MI skipper. The left-arm spinner broke the second-wicket partnership by getting the wicket of Quinton de Kock. Patel kept the pressure on in the middle overs and got set batter Suryakumar Yadav and Saurabh Tiwary. It seemed Suryakumar is back in form and make an impact but Patel did not let him capitalise on a good start. In the death overs, Avesh dazzled again and removed Hardik Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile in the penultimate over to prevent MI from posting a fighting total on the board.
Capitals’ top order crumbles
Prithvi Shaw returned to the team after recovering from an injury but could not make a mark. Shaw lost his wicket to left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya. In-form Shikhar Dhawan got run out and coming to bat at no.3, Steve Smith was cleaned up by his countryman Coluter-Nile. All three batters registered single-digit scores in the run chase.
Iyer, Ashwin keep their cool
With Capitals reduced to 93/6 in the 14th over, MI backed themselves to win the match. But, Shreyas Iyer and Ravichandran Ashwin did not take unnecessary risks or let the dot ball pressure get to them. The duo took the game to the last over and with four runs needed, Ashwin finished the game with a maximum. Iyer and Ashwin remained unbeaten for 33 and 20 respectively.
How MI can still qualify
This loss has stacked more odds against MI. The next two matches for them are not only must-win games but they need to win them by big margins to increase their net run rate which is -0.453.
