Mumbai Indians trounce Delhi Capitals, book place in playoffs

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 21 (ANI): Mumbai Indians speedster Jasprit Bumrah and left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner's three-wicket haul bundled out the visitors Delhi Capitals for 121 runs as the hosts registered a 59-run victory at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.
With this win, Mumbai Indians became the fourth and final team to qualify for the IPL 2025 playoffs. The other three teams for the knockouts are Gujarat Titans, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and Punjab Kings.
In pursuit of 181 runs, the Delhi Capitals lost the first three wickets at just 27 runs. Faf du Plessis (6), KL Rahul (11), and Abhishek Porel (6) went back very cheaply.
After the fall of three wickets at the end of five overs, the Capitals were 43/3 with Vipraj Nigam (15*) and Sameer Rizvi (4*) unbeaten on the crease.
In the seventh over, the Du Plessis-led side completed the 50-run mark as Rizvi slammed a boundary on the bowling of right-arm seamer Jasprit Bumrah.
At the score of 55, Vipraj Nigam (20 runs off 11 balls) was dismissed in the eighth over by left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner.
The fifth wicket of the Delhi innings fell in the 10th over at the score of 65 as Tristan Stubbs (2) was sent back
In the 14th over, the Delhi-based franchise crossed the 100-run mark for the team.
After completing 100 runs, inside eight runs, the Delhi franchise lost three wickets of Rizvi (39), Ashutosh Sharma (18), and Madhav Tiwari (3).
After the fall of eight wickets, the Delhi side were 108/8 in 15.3 overs. The duo of Dushmanth Chameera and Kuldeep Yadav put on 12 runs before the latter (7) was dismissed in the 18th over by leg-spinner Karn Sharma.
The Capitals were bundled out at 121 runs as Mustafizur Rehman was cleaned up by Jasprit Bumrah in the penultimate over (19th over) of the innings.
For the Hardik Pandya-led side, three wickets each were snapped by Jasprit Bumrah (3/12 in 3.2 overs) and Mitchell Santner (3/11 in 4 overs), and one wicket each was grabbed by Trent Boult (1/29 in 3 overs), Deepak Chahar (1/22 in 3 overs), Will Jacks (1/16 in 1 over), and Karn Sharma (1/31 in 3 overs) in their respective spells.
Earlier, Delhi Capitals stand-in skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Batters Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma came to open the innings for the Mumbai side, but failed to give a good start as the right-hand batter Rohit Sharma (5) returned to the pavilion in the third over.
Following Rohit's departure, right-hand batter Will Jacks joined Rickelton. Both put on a partnership of 25 runs before Jacks (21 runs off 13 balls) was dismissed in the sixth over by right-arm pacer Mukesh Kumar.
After Jacks' dismissal, Suryakumar Yadav came out to bat. The Hardik Pandya-led side touched the 50-run mark in the sixth over.
At the score of 58, the Mumbai side lost their third wicket as Rickelton was sent back to the dressing room in the seventh over by left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav. This was spinner's 100th IPL wicket.
The Mumbai-based franchise completed the 100-run mark on the first ball of the 14th over as Suryakumar took a single on the bowling of Mustafizur Rehman.
At the score of 113 in the 15th over, Tilak Varma (27 runs from 27 balls) was dismissed by Mukesh Kumar.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya (3) was the fifth one to get dismissed in the 17th over at the score of 123.
In the 19th over, Suryakumar completed his fifty in 36 balls. In the same over, the Mumbai franchise brought up their 150 runs as Naman Dhir slammed a maximum on the bowling of Mukesh Kumar.
After the completion of the first innings, the Mumbai side finished at 180/5 with Suryakumar Yadav (73* runs off 43 balls) and Naman Dhir (24* runs from 8 balls) unbeaten on the crease.
For the Capitals, two wickets were snapped by Mukesh Kumar (2/48) and one wicket each was bagged by Dushmantha Chameera (1/54), Mustafizur Rehman (1/30), and Kuldeep Yadav (1/22) in their respective spells of four overs.
Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 180/5 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 73*, Tilak Varma 27; Mukesh Kumar 2/48) vs Delhi Capitals 121/10 in 18.2 overs (Sameer Rizvi 39, Vipraj Nigam 20; Mitchell Santner 3/11). (ANI)