On April 20, 2021, Delhi Capitals (DC) registered their second back-to-back victory in the season after beating the Mumbai Indians (MI) by six wickets in Match 13 of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the M. A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Amit Mishra was quick for four important wickets while Shikhar Dhawan led the way with the bat on the line against MI.
DC, who were following a target of 138, made two changes from the previous game, bringing in Shimron Hetmyer and Mishra. In the very first over, Dhawan survived a close call despite a stunning fielding effort from Hardik Pandya in the covers.
MI though got an early wicket in form of Prithvi Shaw after the right-hander was caught and bowled by Jayant Yadav in the second over. Dhawan, who was joined by Steve Smith in the middle, carried his rich form into the innings and built a steady partnership with the right-hander.
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The duo denied MI an additional wicket in the powerplay and DC finished with 39-1 at the end of six overs. Both Dhawan and Smith kept rotating the strike and refrained to play risky shots, keeping the target in mind. Smith creamed two fours off Krunal Pandya in the ninth over and brought up the fifty partnership along with Dhawan for the second wicket.
Kieron Pollard, who bowled the 11th over of the innings, provided the all-important breakthrough of Smith after the right-hander was trapped in front for 33. Dhawan continued playing with confidence, hitting two fours in the next two overs as he was joined by Lalit Yadav, who kept rotating the strike. While MI didn’t strike in the middle overs, they kept mounting the pressure on Dhawan and Yadav as DC required 48 off 36.
Dhawan smashed a four and six respectively on the first two deliveries off Rahul Chahar’s bowling but the leg-spinner bounced back with a wicket after the DC opener was caught in the deep to a good low-catch by Krunal Pandya. DC skipper, Rishabh Pant was the next man to get out as Bumrah’s slower delivery did the trick. The left-hander was dismissed after hitting one-four as DC required 22 off the last three overs.
Shimron Hetmyer, who joined Yadav in the middle, got off the mark with a four as DC was closing into the target. Bumrah conceded ten runs in the penultimate over after overstepping twice as DC required 5 in the last over. Hetmyer kept his calm and chased down the total with a crucial four after Pollard bowled the final over of the innings. Earlier, MI opted to bowl first on a dry wicket in Chennai and made one change – Jayant replaced Adam Milne in the playing XI.
Marcus Stoinis handled the new ball responsibility very well and got an early wicket for DC after de Kock edged one to the wicketkeeper and walked back to the pavilion. But the MI skipper and Suryakumar Yadav struck 3 fours and a six between them as they backed their aggression and took on Ashwin’s bowling variations.
They further attacked Rabada’s pace and brought up 14 runs off the fifth over. While Surya played with soft hands for four, Rohit smacked the pacer down the ground for a maximum. Surya struck two boundaries in the sixth over off Amit Mishra as MI were 55-1 at the end of the powerplay.
Rohit was dealing in boundaries but Surya on the other end nicked one to Pant and Avesh Khan broke the 58-run stand, scalping his first wicket. Amit Mishra came in to bowl the ninth over that started MI’s collapse. The leg-spinner picked the well-settled Rohit and Hardik Pandya in one over after both right-handers holed out to Smith at long-on.
MI was 78-4 at the 10-over mark before Lalit Yadav struck as Krunal Pandya chopped one on to his stumps. DC spinners continued their good work against the MI batsmen as Mishra scalped his third wicket, trapping Kieron Pollard before the wickets for 2. Ishan Kishan was joined by Jayant Yadav out in the middle as they formed a steady partnership and brought MI to 101-6 at the end of 15 overs.
Kishan brought an end to the boundary drought and went down the ground for a maximum off Ashwin in the 16th over. Both Kishan and Jayant Yadav added useful 39 runs before Mishra bagged his fourth wicket of the innings and brought an end to Kishan’s stay in the crease. Rabada dismissed Jayant Yadav in the penultimate over while Avesh Khan got the better of Rahul Chahar in the final over as MI ended their innings with a total of 137-9.
Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 138/4 (Shikhar Dhawan 45, Steve Smith 33; Kieron Pollard 1/9) beat Mumbai Indians 137/9 (Rohit Sharma 44, Ishan Kishan 26; Amit Mishra 4/24) by 6 wickets.
