Delhi Capitals batsman Jake Fraser Mcgurk plays a shot during the Indian Premier League 2024 match against Mumbai Indians in New Delhi on April 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy

IPL 2024

The trend of gargantuan totals — in Indian Premier League in general and at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in particular — continued. So did that of Delhi Capitals winning at home.

Riding on Jake Fraser-McGurk’s pyrotechnics up front and Tristan Stubbs’ strong finish, DC posted 257 for four against Mumbai Indians. Despite the MI power-hitters clearing boundaries frequently, the Capitals pace troika of Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, and Rasikh Salam Dar picked wickets at regular intervals to control the game.

As a result, despite the visiting team finishing just 10 runs behind the total, the game never slipped out of DC’s grasp.

With Prithvi Shaw failing a fitness test just before the toss, Fraser-McGurk found a new opening partner in Abishek Porel.

The Australian pounced on the MI bowling to amass 89 off the five overs, 78 of which came off his willow. While he cleared the fence at will, his boundary-hitting ability was on full display.

That 80 off his 84 runs came off boundaries underlined his dominance. The best of his 17 boundary hits was his swing over long-on off a slower one to welcome Jasprit Bumrah into the attack.

With Bumrah being unable to strike up front, a toothless MI attack struggled to pull DC back in the middle overs. Stubbs then took on Luke Wood and Nuwan Thushara — the two IPL rookies — to help the Capitals cross the 250-run mark.

The fancied MI top-order had no option to up the ante from ball one. Once DC dismissed the top three in the PowerPlay, MI was always playing catch-up. Khaleel struck twice to get the big fish Rohit Sharma (top-edged to mid-off) and Suryakumar Yadav (jabbed to covers) while Mukesh’s change of pace forced an error out of Ishan Kishan.

Captain Hardik, Tilak Varma and Tim David then played robust innings but they had too much to catch up after the initial damage. Rasikh’s variation in pace also worked wonderfully for the Capitals to close the game out.

Scoreboard

Delhi Capitals: Jake Fraser-McGurk c Mohammad Nabi b Chawla 84 Abishek Porel c Ishan Kishan b Mohammad Nabi 36 Shai Hope c Tilak Varma b Wood 41 Rishabh Pant c Sharma b Bumrah 29 Tristan Stubbs not out 48 Axar Patel not out 11 Extras: (LB-1, NB-1, W-6) 8

Total: (For 4 wickets in 20 overs) 257

Fall of wickets: 1-114, 2-127, 3-180, 4-235

Mumbai Indians bowling: Luke Wood 4-0-68-1, Jasprit Bumrah 4-0-35-1, Nuwan Thushara 4-0-56-0, Piyush Chawla 4-0-36-1, Hardik Pandya 2-0-41-0, Mohammad Nabi 2-0-20-1.

Mumbai Indians: Ishan Kishan c Patel b Mukesh Kumar 20 Rohit Sharma c Hope b Ahmed 8 Suryakumar Yadav c Williams b Ahmed 26 Tilak Varma run out (sub Sumit Kumar/Pant) 63 Hardik Pandya c Mukesh Kumar b Rasikh Salam 46 Nehal Wadhera c Pant b Rasikh Salam 4 Tim David lbw b Mukesh Kumar 37 Mohammad Nabi c Hope b Rasikh Salam 7 Piyush Chawla c Hope b Mukesh Kumar 10 Luke Wood not out 9 Extras: (B-2, LB-2, NB-1, W-12) 17

Total: (For 9 wickets in 20 overs) 247

Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-45, 3-65, 4-136, 5-140, 6-210, 7-223, 8-234, 9-247

Delhi Capitals bowling: Lizaad Williams 3-0-34-0, Khaleel Ahmed 4-0-45-2, Mukesh Kumar 4-0-59-3, Kuldeep Yadav 3-0-47-0, Axar Patel 2-0-24-0, Rasikh Salam 4-0-34-3.

Rishabh Pant’s brilliant batting form and inspiring leadership resurrected Delhi Capitals will look to continue their upward match in the points table. They will face the inconsistent Mumbai Indians in New Delhi on April 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

They both hail from the same state. They are friends since their age-group days. Donning different shades of blue, they have stood with their craft with the ball in an IPL dominated by towering totals.

No wonder then that the economy rate of all-rounder Axar Patel and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah could well be decisive in the key clash between host Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

After the 41st league match, Bumrah (6.37 runs per over in 32 overs) tops the list of best economy rate for bowlers with at least 10 overs this season, Axar is placed third in the list (7.06 runs in 31 overs).

Against a batting line-up full of power-hitters, the Gujarat duo will be looking forward to repeat the heroics performed at the Wankhede Stadium done earlier in the month.

Considering that both the teams are still languishing in the bottom half of the points table, a loss on Saturday could well push them into a must-win position for the remaining phase.

While the Capitals — with veterans David Warner and Ishant Sharma being unavailable due to fitness issues — will hope to carry on the momentum from Wednesday night’s win, Hardik and Co. will be keen on switching gears with time running out.

Barring Bumrah, the remaining bowling unit has been a huge concern. With an on-song Rishabh and Axar on fire with the willow along with Jake Fraser-McGurk’s range-hitting, captain Hardik will be banking on his bowling group to deliver against the odds.

The teams

Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (c), David Warner, Abishek Porel, Ricky Bhui, Yash Dhull, Shai Hope, Prithvi Shaw, Tristan Stubbs, Kumar Kushagra, Swastik Chikara, Ishant Sharma, Jhye Richardson, Rasikh Dar Salam, Vicky Ostwal, Anrich Nortje, Mukesh Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Praveen Dubey, Khaleel Ahmed, Sumit Kumar, Axar Patel, Gulbadin Naib, Lalit Yadav, Jake Fraser-McGurk.

Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David, Shreyas Gopal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Anshul Kamboj, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Mohammad Nabi, Shams Mulani, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Tilak Varma, Harvik Desai, Nehal Wadhera, Luke Wood.

Match starts 3.30pm IST.