Mumbai Indians 234 for 5 (Rohit 49, David 45*, Kishan 42, Axar 2-35) lost Capitals of Delhi 205 for 8 (Stubbs 71*, Shaw 66, Coetzee 4-34) by 29 runs
After losing their first three games, Mumbai Indians finally opened their account in IPL 2024 by defeating Delhi Capitals by 29 runs at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Rohit gave Mumbai a blistering start
Given a flat pitch and small boundaries at the Wankhede ground, Mumbai knew they needed to score big and Rohit and Kishan laid the right foundation.
Kishan started by hitting Khalil Ahmed for three boundaries in the first two overs of the seamer. From the other end, Rohit hits Ishant Sharma for two consecutive fours. He took it up a notch by hitting two sixes against J Richardson.
Seeing the pacers leaking runs, Rishabh Pant turned to his spinners. But Rohit was now in overdrive. In the next nine balls, he hit four fours and a six against Axar Patel and Lalit Yadav. At the end of six overs he scored 49 runs off 23 balls and Mumbai scored 75 runs for no loss.
Capitals pull it back
Once the field restrictions were relaxed, the Capitals came back with Axer to dismiss Rohit. In the last ball of the seventh over, Rohit left his crease but Aksar bowled it short and fast.
In the next over, Suryakumar Yadav's comeback was spoiled by Nordje. Nordje welcomed him to the crease with a searing yorker before catching him at mid-on for a duck in two balls.
Thanks to their quick start, Mumbai reached 100 in the tenth over and Axar hurt them again. Ishan Kishan, who had hit a six in the previous ball, smashed the left side of Axar in the next ball as he reached out to take a stunning return catch.
With Hardik Pandya taking his time – he scored 19 off 20 balls at one point – Mumbai could manage just 63 in nine overs after the powerplay.
David-Shepard program
Mumbai scored 138 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 15 overs. At that point, the Capitals should have developed confidence to hold them under 200. David and Shepherd had other plans.
David blasts Richardson for a six in the 16th over. In the next two overs, he hit two more sixes, Hardik also hit a six, but it was Shepherd who made the big impact. In the 20th over, he smashed Nordje for 4, 6, 6, 6, 4, 6 to crush the Capitals' morale.
Shaw keeps the Capitals' hopes alive
Shepard didn't hurt the Capitals. In the fourth over, White dropped David Warner at mid-on with a slower delivery.
Shaw was slow to start. After four overs, he was 13 off 15, but soon found his range. In the eighth over, Piyush hit Chawla for 6, 4, 4 in quick succession. He hit a boundary off Gerald Coetzee to reach his half-century in 31 balls.
Along with Abhishek Borel, Shaw took the Capitals past 100 in the 11th over, but Bumrah ended his innings on 66 by grabbing leg stump.
Stubbs' blitz goes in vain
Stubbs wasted no time getting going. Facing his third ball, he lofted Chawla over deep midwicket for a six and dosed again three balls later. Bumrah dismissed Borel for 41 off 31 balls and the wicket fell cheaply but Stubbs kept going.
He hit Akash Madwal for two fours and a six in the first three balls of the 17th over and got his half-century – his second in two games – in 19 balls.
His score saw the Capitals reach 172 for 4 in 17 overs, five runs ahead of Mumbai at the same stage. But with 55 runs needed in two overs, Bumrah conceded just 8 runs in the next over.
Stubbs hit two sixes off Sheppard in the 19th over and finished it off with another six. But with little support from the other end, the Capitals needed 34 runs off 6 balls. Coetzee conceded just four wickets and took all three wickets as Stubbs was trapped at the non-striker's end.
Hemant Brar is Associate Editor at ESPNcricinfo