Delhi Capitals get off to a flier, stun Mumbai Indians

Chasing a challenging 178, Delhi were down 72 for 5 inside 10 overs but the lesser-known Delhi all-rounder Yadav stayed calm during his 38-ball unbeaten knock to take his side home.

Mumbai: Lalit Yadav played the innings of his life with an unbeaten 48 while Axar Patel smashed 38 not out off just 17 balls as a depleted Delhi Capitals started their IPL campaign with a stunning four-wicket win over Mumbai Indians here on Sunday. Chasing a challenging 178, Delhi were down 72 for 5 inside 10 overs but the lesser-known Delhi all-rounder Yadav stayed calm during his 38-ball unbeaten knock to take his side home. India all-rounder Patel chipped in with a quick fire 17-ball 38 not out as DC overhauled the target with 10 balls to spare.

Yadav smashed four boundaries and two sixes, while Patel had two hours and three maximums as the duo stitched a match-winning 75-run partnership from 30 balls for the seventh wicket. After an ordinary day with the ball (4-0-40-0), Patel kept his best for the run chase after Delhi lost their key batters -- Prithvi Shaw (38), Rishabh Pant (1), Rovman Powell (0) -- cheaply. Mumbai looked ordinary in their pace attack with Jasprit Bumrah returning wicketless (3.2-0-43-0).

They were also sloppy on the field as Patel made full use of his dropped catch by Daniel Sams on 15. Sams also leaked 24 runs in the 18th over with Yadav hitting him for back-to-back four and six, while Patel hammered a monstrous six in the final ball to seal the chase, reaching 179 for 6 in 18.2 0vers. With their star Australian recruit David Warner unavailable for initial few matches, Kiwi recruit Tim Seifert sizzled in his new opening role for Delhi. He took on Bumrah up front, and lofted the India's pace spearhead over his head for a boundary. Seifert dished out another stunner against Bumrah, this time a lofted drive over cover in a shot that had class written all over it.

At the other end, Shaw started it off with a six off Basil Thampi as DC cruised to 30 in three overs. Rohit introduced leg-spinner Murugan Ashwin (4-0-14-2) in the fourth over and that move paid dividends. Ashwin deceived Seifert with a wrong one to clean up the Kiwi wicketkeeper-batter through the gate. He next had Mandeep Singh in the space of one delivery with the batter gifting his wicket off a high full toss.

After Ashwin's twin breakthroughs, Thampi (4-0-35-3) rocked Delhi with his triple strikes -- Shaw, Rovman Powell and Shardul Thakur. Earlier, wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan showed immense maturity as he anchored Mumbai innings to a fighting 177 for 5 with an unbeaten 81. The 23-year-old opener, who became the most expensive buy of the IPL 2022 auction when MI bought him back for Rs 15.25 crore, proved his worth as he smashed 11 fours and two sixes in his 48-ball unbeaten knock. After playing a second-fiddle to his skipper Rohit Sharma (41) inside the Power Play, Kishan came on his own to smash his third fifty in a row for MI, and 10th overall.

Delhi put on the brakes in the middle overs, riding on Kuldeep Yadav's fine bowling effort of 4-0-18-3 which included the prized wickets of Rohit and Kieron Pollard (3). But Kishan held fort even as wickets fell around him before exploding in the death with Mumbai scoring 59 runs in the final five overs. Mumbai debutant Tilak Varma also impressed in his 22 off 15 balls, but it was the Jharkhand batter who stepped on the gas in the death overs and also displayed a helicopter shot to prop up the total.

PTI