IPL: Delhi Capitals go past Mumbai Indians in run-fest at Kotla
Riding on Jake Fraser-McGurk’s blistering knock, Delhi Capitals had just enough runs in the bank to edge out Mumbai Indians in an IPL run-fest at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in the national capital on Saturday.
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Chasing a stiff 258 to win, Mumbai gave the stiff target a real threat but went out of steam once their top-scorers Tilak Varma (63 off 32) and skipper Hardik Pandya (46 off 24) were dismissed.
Rasikh Dar Salam was once again Delhi’s best bowler on show with figures of 3/34, while Mukesh Kumar also claimed three wickets (3/59) but was a lot more expensive. Left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed took 2/45.
Earlier, after being put in to bat by MI, the hosts got off to a blazing start, thanks to openers Fraser-McGurk and Abishek Porel, who put up 114 runs on the board in just 7.2 overs.
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McGurk brought up his third half-century of the season, equalling his record of fastest half-century in 15 balls. He ended up making 84 off just 27 balls. Porel made 36 off 27 balls.
Shai Hope (41 off 17) and Tristan Stubbs (48* off 25) ensure DC didn’t lose the momentum provided by Fraser McGurk, and put up their best ever IPL total, 257/4, on the board.
The victory propelled DC to fifth place, while MI remained entrenched in the penultimate spot on the 10-team table.
Making his second appearance for DC this season, the 22-year-old Fraser-McGurk matched his own record for the fastest fifty of the season, reaching the milestone in just 15 balls after MI elected to field first.
Fraser-McGurk’s presence in the middle transformed the Arun Jaitley Stadium into a flurry of boundaries and sixes. He smashed 11 fours and 6 sixes, setting the tone by plundering 19 runs off Luke Wood’s opening over and capitalizing on the powerplay to amass 92 runs.
Facing off against the formidable Jasprit Bumrah, the Australian opener greeted him with a six over long on, followed by a boundary in the second over.
Despite MI skipper Pandya opting for spin with Piyush Chawla, Fraser-McGurk remained undeterred, launching another six over long-on to secure his third IPL fifty.
Fraser-McGurk particularly targeted Pandya, sending the ball sailing out of the park before smashing one over deep mid-wicket, much to the delight of Abhishek Porel at the other end.
Chawla finally halted the onslaught with a well-disguised googly to get Fraser McGurk, and MI briefly regained control with Mohammad Nabi dismissing Porel in the 10th over.
Stubbs took DC past the 200-run mark. The South African continued his menacing form as he took Wood to the cleaners in the 18th over where he only dealt in boundaries. The over read 4, 4, 6, 4, 4, 4.
In response, MI’s innings didn’t unfold as planned, with Khaleel Ahmed striking early to dismiss Rohit Sharma for 8.
Facing a daunting target of over 250 runs, MI batsmen had to adopt an aggressive approach, resulting in the dismissals of Ishan Kishan (20) and Suryakumar Yadav (26).
With three wickets down inside the Powerplay and the required run-rate climbing, Pandya took charge, plundering 19 runs off Kuldeep Yadav’s ninth over, smashing three fours and a towering six over long on.
Tilak Varma and Pandya built a promising partnership, but ‘Impact Player’ Salam intervened, claiming Pandya’s wicket and then dismissing Nehal Wadhera in the same over.
Varma found support in Tim David (37 off 17 balls), but his innings was cut short by a run-out in the final over.
(With PTI inputs)
