Half-centuries by Prithvi Shaw and Tristan Stubbs went in vain as Mumbai Indians rode on a Gerald Coetzee’s four-fer to hand Delhi Capitals a 29-run defeat and earned their first points in Indian Premier League 2024 at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Sunday.
It was Super Sunday all the way for the 18,000-odd children from local NGOs that were invited by Mumbai Indians to watch the match as part of their Education and Sports for All (ESA) Day as they witnessed some brilliant power-hitting by players from both teams.
On a pitch that was good for batting, Shaw hammered a 40-ball 66 while Stubbes blasted a 19-ball half-century on his way to a 25-ball 71. But their efforts proved futile as the score of 234/5 posted by Mumbai Indians on the back of a 10-ball unbeaten 39 by Romario Shepherd and blazing 40s by Rohit Sharma (49), Ishan Kishan (42) and Tim David (49) proved beyond reach as they ended their innings at 205/8 in 20 overs.
Gerald Coetzee ended their fight with three wickets in the final over as Delhi Capitals tried to chase 55 of the last 12 deliveries.
Though Delhi Capitals lost David Warner early, Prithvi Shaw and Abishek Porel raised 88 runs for the second wicket to get them past the 100-run mark in the 11th over.
Shaw, playing on his home ground at Wankhede where he played in Ranji Trophy for Mumbai, hammered a 40-ball 66, scoring his first half-century of IPL 2024 after fighting his way into the playing eleven after missing the first two matches.
Shaw started by slashing the second delivery of the innings by Gerald Coetzee for a six to the third-man boundary. Kept quiet by Jasprit Bumrah with some yorker and short-of-length deliveries, Shaw trickled a loose ball from the Gujarat pacer for a boundary and then helped himself to back-to-back fours off Akash Madhwal in the fifth over, ramping him over keeper’s head and then executing a short-arm jab despite being beaten by pace on the next delivery.
He hammered Piyush Chawla for a six, swung through the line to clear long-on, and two boundaries — a cut on one knee followed by a walk-about flat straight hit, in the eighth over. Coetzee too got struck for boundaries off successive deliveries in the next over as Shaw completed his half-century off 31 balls, hitting seven fours and two sixes in the process. This was his first fifty of IPL 2024 and came at the right time as Delhi needed quick runs in their big chase of 235. He celebrated his half-century with a slog-sweep six off Mohammed Nabi.
In the meantime, Abishek Porel, who was a silent partner at the other end, caught fire and struck Gerald Coetzee and Akash Madhwal for a boundary each. He was lucky to get a life when he mishit a slow full-toss into the leg side but Coetzee dropped an easy catch as the ball bobbled out of his hand.
Bumrah provided Mumbai Indians a much-needed breakthrough when he cleaned up Shaw with a superb toe-crusher for 66 off 40 deliveries, ending the 88 runs partnership for the second wicket between Shaw and Porel. Shaw’s 40-ball knock was studded with eight boundaries and three sixes.
Bumrah completed his 150 wickets in IPL when he prised out Porel for 41 when the batter from Assam heaved a full toss straight to long-on where Tim David did not make any mistake. Porel’s 31-ball 41 included three boundaries and four maximums as Delhi were down to 144/3 in the 15th over.
Tristan Stubbs blasted a 19-ball made half-century, undeterred by the loss of his skipper Rishabh Pant who was out for one run off three balls, as he offered a leading edge to cover while attempting a big one over midwicket. He hammered Madhwal for 14 runs off two legal deliveries as he reverse-scooped the first delivery of the 17th over for a four and then hammered a no-ball for a six and then smoked a full toss to the extra cover boundary as they scored 19 runs off the over.
Bumrah was taken to eight runs off the 18th over and with 55 runs from 12 balls, Stubbs blasts Romario Shepherd for back-to-back sixes. But Axar Patel was run out off the next delivery as they attempted to steal a single. Stubbs smoked Shepherd for a six off the last ball to take Delhi Capitals past 200.
With 34 needed off the last six balls, Stubbes was out going for a big one and edging one back to Ishan Kishan to end his innings for 71 off 27 balls, hammering three boundaries and seven maximums.
But in the end, his effort went in vain as Gerald Coetzee claimed three wickets off a brilliant final over to clinch a 29-run victory for Mumbai Indians. Coetzee finished with 4-34 off four overs while Bumrah claimed 2-22 of four brilliant overs.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 234/5 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 49, Ishan Kishan 42, Hardik Pandya 39, Tim David 45 not ut; Romario Shepherd 39 not out; Axar Patel 2-35, Anrich Nortje 2-65) beat Delhi Capitals 205/8 in 20 overs (Prithvi Shaw 66, Tristan Stubbs 71, Abishek Porel 41; Gerald Coetzee 4-34, Jasprit Bumrah 2-22) by 29 runs
