Delhi Capitals were no match to the class of Mumbai Indians and certainly not to the crazy yorkers of Jasprit Bumrah and deadly swing of Trent Boult as they lost the first Qualifier of the Indian Premier League 2020 by 57 runs. What was supposed to be an intense Qualifier, ended up being just another one-sided affair.
The Capitals were basically humiliated as they could make only 143 chasing 201 in Dubai. They never looked in the game right from the beginning when they lost three wickets for no runs. From there onwards it was all about shaping up the chase. Marcus Stoinis and to a certain extent Axar Patel tried doing that, but it never looked like happening.
Rohit Sharma, the Mumbai Indians captains was polar opposite from the last match’s post-match presentation ceremony. From playing the worst match of the tournament to the best match, he called it quite an incredible two-match journey.
“I guess this is the best performance. The way de Kock and SKY (Suryakumar Yadav) took the momentum after I got out early was good to see,” Rohit said.
Revealing that Mumbai Indians never have a predefined target and they change it according to the situation, Rohit said, “We never had a target in mind. We are a different team and we play differently. We just wanted to have a good powerplay and then take it from there. We knew we have the power to accelerate at the end.”
Rohit further said that the versatility of the team helps him close in on matches, where they're not even chances of getting close. He also went on to praise Jharkhand born Ishan Kishan for the kind of form he has been in. “Ishan has been in great form, so we just wanted him to be really positive after the second time-out. We told that to Krunal as well, just bat positively and put the bowlers under pressure. With such a versatile squad, we can change the batting and bowling order,” said the 33-year-old.
Boult has got injured mid-game and updating on him, Rohit said, “I’ve not seen him (Boult). But he seems okay. I don't think it's a big problem. Three-day rest and he should be back on the park.”
The Mumbai-born lavished praises on his fast bowlers saying, “Bumrah and Boult have been in solid form. They play for different teams so they have different plans. We as a team have different plans and it's great to see them execute those.”
Shreyas Iyer, the Delhi Capitals captain, standing on the losing side once again, for the fifth time in the last six matches said that he doesn’t want to talk negatively about the team as they have another chance of making it to the finals.
“I don't want to speak negatively about the team, but going forward it's important to come with a strong mindset. It's never too late, and we'll see to it that we come back strongly,” Iyer said.
Repenting on the fact that they did not capitalise when they had Mumbai down to four wickets at just 102, Iyer said, “I think we were on top when we got two quick wickets, and they were 102-4. We could have capitalized more at that time, and gotten two more wickets - maybe we could've chased around 170, but its part and parcel of the game. Every night can't be yours.”
Talking about the team spirit shown by the Capitals throughout the tournament especially after living in the bubble for so long, the 25-year-old said that it was not easy to be in the bubble and follow the same routine every day. “We keep talking about the opportunities that we get and it's important to have a good mindset, but the practice we have done over the last few days, I'm really happy with the boys and their preparations.”
Lauding Ravichandran Ashwin for his amazing performance in which he picked up three wickets for just 29 runs in his four overs, the Mumbai born said, “Ravi Ashwin was a positive for us tonight - he plays around with the batsmen's head a lot, really good to have him in the team, and he's quite an asset for us, especially me as a captain.”
“All their batsmen are in great touch and Hardik/Pollard down the order are incredible. You can't control the situation when all the batsmen are in good touch, but we'll look to do better in the next game,” Iyer concluded.
Experts were impressed by the clinical showing of the Mumbai team to reach the finals and lavished praises on Bumrah, Ishan Kishan, and Suryakumar Yadav.
Veteran cricket Analyst Ayaz Memon was super impressed by Jasprit Bumarah as he called him the Incredible Jas or 'Jassi Jaisa Koi nhi' in Hindi.
Senior cricket analyst Boria Majumdar came up with a totally different analogy to the game saying that he expected the game to be as intense as the US elections right now, but it ended up being a local municipality one.
Broadcast Journalist Vimal Kumar talked about how in this year’s IPL, Mumbai wouldn’t be facing Chennai for the first time in six years.
Sports journalist Gaurav Kalra lauded Jasprit Bumrah, saying that he was not only a great bowler but a great human being too, after the way he spoke in the post-match presentation.
Cricketer turned commentator Aakash Chopra talked about how Delhi Capitals have not been able to compete against Mumbai Indians in the three matches that they have played this season.
Mumbai look like the team to beat in this year's IPL, who will be able to do it is guess that might just end up with the answer 'Nobody'. For the time being, the Capitals would like to regroup before facing the winner between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second qualifier on 8th November.
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