Mumbai Indians’ ‘perpetually captain’ Rohit Sharma’s tactical call was executed to perfection by ‘Impact Substitute’ Karn Sharma as they made a comeback for the ages with a 12-run victory over Delhi Capitals in Delhi on Sunday to bring their IPL campaign back heading in the right direction. Chasing a goal of 206, Karun Nair’s good 40-ball-89 went in vain as Delhi Capitals, who were cruising along at 119 for one just after the halfway stage, ended on 193 in 19 overs after an eventful penultimate over which saw three run outs and two boundaries. At the top of motion on Sunday, Nicholas Pooran continued to carry the Orange Cap with 349 runs, while Noor Ahmad too kept the Purple Cap with him with 12 wickets to his name.
Rohit, the tactician par excellence, indicated to his coach Mahela Jayawardene to herald Karn and likewise asked for a ball change after the eleventh over.
And suddenly the ball began to grip and switch with Mitchell Santner’s dream delivery disturbing Nair’s off-stick and Karn picking up three for 36 on a day ruled by wrist spinners.
Once KL Rahul, not known for handling pressure situations on barely slowish track, was fooled by a classic leg-break by Karn, which lobbed up, the DC batting began to crumble.
In the long run, MI’s good ground fielding showed its effect as three run outs ended Delhi Capitals’s good streak of wins.
That is the sort of victory that lifts the spirit and Rohit’s remark on the changing nature of the track and initiation of spinners on a day when Jasprit Bumrah was off-colour did the trick.
For DC, Nair, one in all India’s only two Test triple centurions but who was down and out till the beginning of the 2024-25 domestic season, became the proverbial phoenix, rising from the ashes with stupendous performance on the day.
The pick-up pull off Bumrah over square-leg and a lofted off-drive for six within the seventh over had stunned the bowler and two more sixes off MI skipper Hardik Pandya had the group craving for more.
But Santner pitched one on middle stump, got it to show away and squared up the batter, and it was actually the game-changing moment so far as MI were concerned.
Earlier, Kuldeep Yadav’s artistry was well complemented by young leg-spinner Vipraj Nigam’s comfortable knack of picking wickets before Tilak Varma’s attractive half-century took Mumbai Indians to 205 for five in 20 overs.
Tilak (59 off 33 balls) was the one MI batter to capitalise on a great start, hitting six fours and three sixes and making amends for his poor scores in a number of the earlier games. Naman Dheer (38 not out off 17 balls) then used the long handle to prop up the entire.
On a track where stroke-making wasn’t very difficult, the 2 wrist spinners from Uttar Pradesh snared 4 wickets between them while making a gift of 64 runs of their eight overs, which might be termed as good considering the conditions.
The 2 spinners actually reduced the pace of their deliveries, allowing them to barely grip off the surface and a number of the MI batters perished while going for dangerous shots.
Rohit’s (18 off 12 balls) wretched IPL form continued as young Vipraj (2/41 in 4 overs) found him plumb in-front with a googly that he missed while attempting to go for a slog sweep over the cow-corner. He now has 56 runs from five innings.
For Vipraj, it is a few sort of an achievement getting Virat Kohli and Rohit in back-to-back games.
Rohit’s opening partner Ryan Rickleton (41 off 25 balls) did show spark however the seasoned Kuldeep (2/23 in 4 overs) appeared to have tied a thread to the white Kookaburra, controlling its length like a yo-yo.
Kuldeep flighted the deliveries, there was late dip and Rickleton perished while attempting to play for the turn however it was a flipper that went straight.
In case of Suryakumar Yadav (40 off 27 balls), who had just began looking dangerous, Kuldeep decreased the pace and bowled the googly because the bat face turned for India’s T20 skipper. The result was an easy catch within the deep.
Tilak and Naman then added 62 runs in 5.3 overs overs to take the team past 200-run mark, which proved to be enough ultimately.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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