IPL 2021 | MI vs DC: What Experts said as Mumbai's middle-order woes continue

Two in-form teams Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals locked horns on Tuesday night in Chennai. While Rishabh Pant’s DC grabbed a thumping win against Punjab Kings by 6 wickets in their previous encounter, the Rohit Sharma-led MI had dominated Sunrisers Hyderabad to beat them by 13 runs. But as they say there can be only one winner at the end of the contest. 

Though, the two sides looked in some good shape, MI had a slight edge as they had defeated DC in the last four matches on the trot. But the fortunes changed for DC on Tuesday. Call it the new captain Rishabh Pant’s luck or some hard work from the Capitals team, they did defeat MI and pretty comprehensively by 6 wickets and with 5 balls to spare. 

Chasing a target of 138 on a tricky surface, the Delhi franchise lost an early wicket in the form of Prithvi Shaw who was removed by Jayant Yadav after the spinner caught him off his own bowling for 7 off 5 balls. 

But Shaw’s opening partner Shikhar Dhawan continued his purple patch and stitched a stand of 53 runs with former Australia captain and DC’s new recruit Steve Smith who came in at number three. 

Smith and Dhawan were looking steady when stand-in captain Kieron Pollard brought himself into the attack and scalped the Aussie batsman’s wicket for 33 after trapping him in front of the stumps. While Smith departed, Dhawan continued to play his game and eventually notched up 45 off 42 before getting out to Rahul Chahar. 

The situation still looked under control as they needed 38 more to win in just over five overs. But DC captain Pant’s dismissal in the 17th over had the side in a spot of bother. The left-handed batsman miscued a stroke while facing Jasprit Bumrah and gave a catch to Krunal Pandya in the deep for 7 while the team score read 115/4. 

But Lalit Yadav who had come out to bat at number four held the other end strongly and put up an unbeaten partnership of 23 runs with Hetmyer to see DC home. Yadav scored 22* off 25 while Hetmyer was not out for 14 off 9. 

Earlier, Mumbai Indians had a disappointing start to the proceedings after they lost Quinton de Kock early in the innings but skipper Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav came in for the resistance and scored 58 runs for the second wicket before SKY departed for 24 off 15. 

Sharma though continued with his stroke play but Pant’s decision to give the ball to leg-spinner Amit Mishra did the trick for them. Mishra probably put in all the experience that he has to rattle MI’s batting line up. 

He first removed Rohit who was looking dangerous for 44 off 30 and then got off Hardik Pandya a couple of balls later inviting both the batsmen to take the aerial route. Both Rohit and Hardik mistimed their strokes and deposited the ball straight into the hands of Smith at long on. 

The right-arm leggier then scalped the wickets of Ishant Kishan and Kieron Pollard to return with figures of 4/24 in 4 overs. 

Captain’s viewpoints

Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma admitted that the batting unit has failed to capitalise on the starts they have been getting and this is happening regularly. “After the start we got we should have batted better in the middle overs. It is happening time and again. We aren't able to capitalize on our starts and we need to understand as a batting unit,” he said.

But Sharma also credited the Delhi Capitals for keeping things tight and in their favour while he also talked about the dew factor and whether it was difficult to grip the ball or not. “But you have to give credit to the Delhi bowlers, they kept it tight and kept taking wickets. We knew dew would come in but we have seen that it's not all that difficult to grip the ball in the last few games. Dew isn't the factor, we need to play smart cricket to win games which we didn't do today. [On his injury] It's only a niggle. It should be fine,” Rohit added. 

Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant hailed Amit Mishra for getting the team back on track after SKY and Rohit had created some pressure on the Delhi side with a steady partnership. “When we started we were a little under pressure. Mishy bhai got us into the game. Bowlers did a great job to restrict them to 136. We like to take it into the ground, take one match at a time,” Pant said. 

The wicket-keeper batsman also praised Lalit Yadav who played a handy knock and also picked up a wicket during the course. “He's a great Indian player we're trying to groom (Lalit Yadav). Can do wonders on pitches like these. What we've learnt is if you keep wickets in hand you can chase any target,” the left-handed aggressive batsman further added. 

Expert Opinion

The cricket pundit and commentator Harsha Bhogle was all praise of the Delhi Capitals for the way they went ahead with the run chase. Bhogle said that dew could be a determining factor but the way DC have played is very sensible. 

Boria Majumdar, a cricket journalist and historian lauded Shikhar Dhawan and Amit Mishra for their match-defining performances. 

But Boria also pointed out the weak point that MI have persisted with so far in the tournament. The historian said that MI batting unit hasn’t been able to capitalise on the starts they have got and the failure of their middle-order has been a cause of concern in this edition. 

Vikrant Gupta had some questions for MI. He too pointed out the middle-order collapse while putting the onus on Hardik Pandya who hasn’t fired in this season. MI had successfully defended a couple of low scores before coming into this match while giving a hard time to the Royal Challengers Bangalore but according to Vikrant bowling can’t really win a team all the matches if they put up a score on the board. 

Mumbai Indians will now play Punjab Kings in Chennai on Friday before flying to Delhi to begin the next leg of the tournament. Delhi Capitals are also left with one game in Chennai where they will face Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday. DC will then move to Ahmedabad.