IPL 2022, 2nd match: Lalit-Axar spoil Mumbai party
Delhi Capitals spoiled Mumbai Indians party, winning the match by 4 wickets with 10 balls to spare in IPL 2022 second match at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on March 27. At one stage, Delhi was in trouble at 104/6 in 13.2 overs while chasing 178 for a win. But a match-winning unbeaten stand of 75 runs between Axar Patel (38 not out) and Lalit Yadav (48 not out) for the 7th wicket saw Delhi home to a comfortable win.
Mumbai innings
Earlier, asked to bat first, Mumbai was off to a great start with Ishan Kisha and Rohit Sharma posting a stand of 67 runs for the first wicket in 8.2 overs. Captain Rohit was the aggressor in this stand, cracking 32-ball 41 with 4 fours and 2 sixes. Rohit unleashed his range of strokes, from lofted shots to square cut. However, he perished trying to clear a delivery from Kuldeep Yadav.
Meanwhile, Kishan dropped anchor but punished the odd bad ball. He didn’t get much support from other batsmen except Tilak Varma who played a cameo of 15-ball 22 with 3 fours. Much was expected from Kieron Pollard but he pulled a short ball from Kuldeep to a diving Tim Seifert for 3. With Kishan running out of partners, the left-hand keeper-batsman took the responsibility of giving the innings much-needed momentum. He was extremely severe on Axar Patel, bringing out his slog sweep for a six for the shot of the match.
Kishan finally ended the innings with a responsible knock of 81 not out off 48 balls with 11 fours and 2 sixes. Mumbai could manage a par total of 177/5. For Delhi Capitals, Kuldeep was the most successful bowler, taking 3 for 18 in his 4 overs.
Delhi innings
Delhi started the chase positively with Tim Seifert taking on the Mumbai bowlers. Seifert cracked 4 fours to race to 14-ball 21 but a wrong one from M Ashwin saw his stumps shattered. Ashwin struck again in the same over, getting Delhi No 3 Mandeep Singh to hit uppishly to Tilak Varma for a second-ball duck.
Delhi captain Rishabh Pant then walked in, but he fell for 1 as his uppercut saw Tim David complete an easy catch on the third man. At 32/3 in 4 overs, Delhi was in big trouble, but opener Prithvi Shaw didn’t let it affect him and continued with his attacking game. He punished Mumbai bowlers who erred in line and length. But Shaw could not continue for long as he edged behind to keeper Kishan off Basil Thampi for a well-made 38 with 4 fours and 2 sixes. Delhi plunged into further trouble with Rovman Powell falling in the same over to Thampi for a second-ball duck.
Shardul Thakur then played counter-attacking innings of 11-ball 22 with 4 fours to provide the necessary momentum to the innings before he fell to Thampi.
The fall of Thakur brought Axar to the crease. Axar and Lalit then took the game away from Mumbai. Lalit was impressive, playing risk-free strokes, and still getting the odd boundary to keep the run-rate going. It was Axar who lifted hopes for a win when he slammed a full-length delivery from Jasprit Bumrah over long on for a six.
The game-changer for Delhi was the 18th over bowled by Daniel Sams. Lalit and Axar took 24 runs off this over to all but seal the game for Delhi. Finally, Axar flicked a delivery from Bumrah in the next over for four to finish off the chase. The loss led Mumbai to lose yet another opening match.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 177/5 (81 not out, Kuldeep Yadav 3/18) loses to Delhi Capitals (Lalit Yadav 48 not out, Basil Thampi 3/35)