After a blip against Kolkata Knight Riders, DC quickly returned to the winning ways on Saturday, conquering defending champions Mumbai Indians in another low-scoring fixture in Sharjah.
It was a bowlers’ show right throughout, where some timely contributions with the bat here and there made a big difference. One such was the unbeaten 33 off 33 from the former Capitals skipper Shreyas Iyer, who produced a measured knock when his team desperately needed one.
Chasing the 130-run target on another slow, low spin-friendly track in Sharjah, DC found themselves precariously placed at 30/3 after their top-order batters – Prithvi Shaw (6), Shikhar Dhawan (8) and Steve Smith (9) – went one after another.
And though Iyer stitched a bit of a resurrection stand with captain Rishabh Pant (26), MI could now sense an opening into the game as the asking rate was also gradually climbing up.
When Pant fell at the start of the ninth over, followed soon by Axar Patel (9) and Shimron Hetmyer (15), DC were under real pressure. Needing less than a run-a-ball for seven overs but now with only lower-order men there to support Iyer.
This is where Ravichandran Ashwin came to his team’s rescue and put on an unbeaten 39-run partnership with Iyer for the seventh wicket. Ashwin made amends for his expensive spell in the first half with an extremely important knock of 20 not out off 21 balls.
Iyer, who was determined to stay there till the very end, didn’t play any airy-fairy strokes even when he lost partners. Iyer trusted Ashwin to keep him company. They took every single available on offer and struck some timely boundaries in between, including a six from Ashwin against Krunal at the start of the final over to finish off the proceedings.
MI will be distraught that when they did get an opening despite an insipid batting performance, they couldn’t make it count and were thwarted by Ashwin and Iyer.
Pacers Trent Boult (1/24) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (1/19) bowled well for them, but the defending champions will be disappointed that their spinners Jayant Yadav (1/31) and Krunal Pandya (1/18) couldn’t do more on a surface designed for them to flourish.
Talking of spin, left-arm spinner Patel was in his element in the first half, as he dismantled the MI middle-order, taking 3 wickets for just 21 off his four overs.
His brilliance against an MI batting unit rich with great power and muscle on a ground with short boundary dimensions made a big impact. He also helped his team cover for Ashwin’s off day with the ball after the premier off-spinner went for 41 with just 1 wicket from his quota.
Pacer Avesh Khan is another one of the DC bowlers going from strength to strength. Avesh delivered one more impressive spell for the tournament, picking up three wickets for just 15 runs from his overs. His magnificent spell, combined with Axar’s excellence, did the real damage as far as MI are concerned.
Familiar problems stood exposed for MI’s otherwise power-packed batting unit, as they struggled for flow and rhythm on another spin-friendly track. Suryakumar Yadav (33) was their top scorer for the day, but he was problematically the only MI batter to breach the 20-run mark.
Brief scores
Mumbai Indians 129/8 in 20 overs (Yadav 33, de Kock 19; Khan 3/15, Patel 3/21) lost to Delhi Capitals 132/6 in 19.1 overs (Iyer 33*, Pant 26; Boult 1/24, Pandya 1/18) by 4 wickets
