This Romario finishes well too

Mumbai Indians gets off the mark as Rohit, Ishan and Shepherd post 234/5; Shaw's hitting in vain for DC

After four matches, Mumbai Indians finally have their first win of the season, with Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan setting up the 235 target before Romario Shepherd whacked 32 in the last over. Prithvi Shaw batted superbly for Delhi, but Tristan Stubbs’ power-hitting tottered as he didn’t face a single ball in the final over.

Pandya spared the boos

Only one question was the focus ahead of Mumbai Indians’ home match against Delhi Captials at the Wankhede on Sunday — will the home support boo their new skipper Hardik Pandya?

The Indian all-rounder was in the eye of a booing storm since the start of this season’s IPL, having been promoted to captain of the side after his transfer from Gujarat Titans. The 5-time IPL champion’s fanbase wasn’t pleased with the way the franchise sidelined their skipper Rohit Sharma and were quite vocal in venting out their frustration against Pandya.

What worked in Pandya’s favour was that the afternoon match against DC was Mumbai Indians’ Education Sports for All day, meaning there were 18,000 kids, including 200 children with special needs, hailing from diverse NGOS across the city that were present in the stadium. There was no booing, just all-out cheering. Pandya will have to wait for the next game to see if he has finally won back the crowd. His 33-ball 39 would’ve helped his cause.

Rohit-ishan give Mumbai a power start

Rohit blazed through his 27-ball 49 before Axar Patel bowled one flatter and quicker to dislodge his leg stump. His opening partner Ishan Kishan too accelerated in the powerplay to score a 23-ball 42. After three losses on the trot, the duo’s 80-run partnership gave Mumbai the perfect start in the sweltering April Mumbai heat.

Rohit especially was quite impressive with the way he took on bowlers. His first victim was his old friend and teammate Ishant Sharma in the second over of the innings. He hit him for consecutive boundaries.

Romario Shepherd smacked Anrich Nortje for 32 runs in the last over to power Mumbai Indians to a total of 234.

After giving away two wides – one went to the boundary – Ishant had conceded 14 runs in just two balls.

But the bowler struck back beautifully in the over, bowling the next four balls without conceding a run. When Jhye Richardson replaced Ishant, Rohit continued his hitting spree, this time firing consecutive sixes over deep square leg.

Skyfalls

The return of Mr T20 Suryakumar Yadav was highly anticipated. Out of action since December, the progress of his recovery was closely tracked by both the Mumbai Indians and the Indian team as he’s likely to play a huge part in the T20 World Cup later this year. His return though, lasted just four minutes.

In the two balls that he faced, it was evident that a return to his hard-hitting form at the highest level could take a little more time. South African speedster Anrich Nortje gave the Mumbai batsman a rather unwelcome return with a pacey yorker. Surya just about managed to pick it. Anticipating that Nortje could amp up his pace, Surya decided to take him on and hit him over the infield. He didn’t get the connection he wanted and substitute fielder Jake Fraser-mcgurk timed his leap to perfection to take a stunning catch at the edge of the circle.

Shepherd’s blast

Mumbai were 202-5 before the final over and it seemed they could easily get to a respectable 215. Romario Shepherd though, had other plans. He changed the script completely by smacking Nortje for 32 in the last over which powered Mumbai to 234-5. The Guyanese cricketer hit four sixes and two boundaries and Mumbai may rely on the Pollardesque batter more often than not this season.

Bumrah’s yorker blows Shaw

It was a Jasprit Bumrah special. On the first ball of his second over, he mistakenly got in the way as Prithvi Shaw, who ended up scoring 66 off 40 balls, set off for a single. Bumrah cordially picked up Shaw’s fallen bat and walked over to give it to him. He may have given him his bat but he didn’t give him any chance to put his bat to the ball when on the fifth ball of that over, he sent down a thunderbolt, at 141.3kph. It didn’t move much in the air, but beat Shaw and took out his leg stump. The thunderbolt delivered a huge blow to DC’S hopes of winning their second match of the season.

Difference in the last over

DC skipper Rishabh Pant said after winning the toss that he chose to bowl as he fancied his team’s chance of chasing at Wankhede. After Prithvi Shaw’s show, Tristan Stubbs took over the challenge and almost pulled it off. He was striking big and with one over to go with 34 runs needed, was on 71 off just 25 balls, hitting three sixes in that 19th over. Only he didn’t get the strike as Mumbai’s South African bowler Gerald Coetzee gave away just four runs and picked up three wickets to win the match for his side. A stark contrast to Mumbai’s last over where Shepherd scored 32, which ultimately was the difference.

Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 234 for 5 (Rohit 49, David 45; Axar 2-35) beat Delhi Capitals 205 for 8 (Stubbs 71, Shaw 66; Coetzee 4-34) by 29 runs.

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