Pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult on Thursday crushed Delhi Capitals to help Mumbai Indians in cruising into their second-consecutive and sixth overall Indian Premier League (IPL) final.
The four-time champions thrashed Delhi Capitals by 57 runs in the first qualifier of IPL 2020 at the Dubai International Stadium. Delhi, though, will still have a chance to make it to the final when they face the winner of Eliminator 1 on Sunday.
After late exploits from Ishan Kishan (55 from 30 deliveries) and Hardik Pandya (37 off 14) ensured that Mumbai Indians put 200/5 on the board, Bumrah (4/14) and Boult (2/9) broke the backbone of Delhi’s batting unit.
Boult, on the other hand, scalped a couple of wickets conceding merely nine runs. Krunal Pandya (1/22) and Keiron Pollard (1/36) settled with one wicket apiece.
Chasing the challenging 201-run target, DC endured their worst start of the season after losing openers out-of-form Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, and Ajinkya Rahane, all departing without troubling the scorers. While Boult accounted for the DC opener’s wicket, Boult trapped Rahane.
MI inflicted more woes on their opponents, whose half of the men were back in the dressing room with just 41 runs on board. Axar Patel (42) and Marcus Stoinis (65) showed some resistance in the middle as they tried to rebuild after the early damages, and stitched 71 runs for the sixth wicket.
Bumrah castled Stoinis in the 16th over before the lanky pacer struck again in the same over to send back Daniel Sams (0), and that left DC tottering at 112/7. Kagiso Rabada remained unbeaten on 15 as DC fell short of the target by 57 runs.
Earlier, half-centuries by Yadav and Kishan, along with Hardik Pandya’s blitzkrieg (37 not out off 14 balls) powered Mumbai to a healthy 200/5 wkts in the allotted 20 overs.
Hardik and Ishan were also involved in a crucial unbeaten 60-run partnership off just 23 balls. The duo’s fireworks saw MI adding 55 runs off the last three overs.
Quinton de Kock (40) kept one end safe, forging a 62-run partnership with Yadav before the former was sent back by Ashwin in the eighth over. Yadav, too, followed the MI opener, falling to Anrich Nortje (1/50) in the 12th over with MI’s scorecard reading 100/3.
Ashwin struck again in the next over, packing back a dangerous Keiron Pollard for a duck. Krunal Pandya (13) and Ishan then added 39 runs off 23 balls before Stoinis got rid of the former.
Ishan’s unbeaten knock was laced with four boundaries and three sixes while Hardik smacked five maximums.
Brief scores: MI: 200/5 wkts in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 55 not out, Suryakumar Yadav 51; Ravichandran Ashwin 3/29) beat DC: 143/8 wkts in 20 overs (Marcus Stoinis 65, Axar Patel 42; Jasprit Bumrah 4/14) by 57 runs