IPL 2018: Match 55, DD vs MI, Review: Delhi sink the defending champions with their final dive in the league

The title defence of Mumbai Indians (MI) has come to an end as Delhi Daredevils (DD) pipped them out in the last over thriller at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium. It was the brilliance of their leg-spinners Sandeep Lamichhane and Amit Mishra who shared 6 wickets amongst them in eight overs. Rishabh Pant was also exceptional on his part with the bat as it helped Delhi post the mammoth total on a turning pitch. However, Mumbai batsmen were at fault in the chase who played some bad shots and left too much to do for Ben Cutting in the end.

Rohit Sharma’s record of losing the toss continued as Shreyas Iyer opted to bat first hoping that the pitch would like significantly slow down much like it did it in their encounter against Chennai Super Kings (CSK). The hosts also brought in Liam Plunkett as he replaced Avesh Khan to fill in the slot of the fourth overseas player in the playing XI. Mumbai were jolted with a niggle to Mitchell McClenaghan and Mustafizur Rahman was included in the side.

Pant leads the way yet again

Glenn Maxwell was sent up the order to open the innings along with Prithvi Shaw. Both started decently as the latter lost his wicket courtesy of his recklessness. His partner had sliced the ball away towards backward point where Hardik Pandya picked up the ball and casually threw the ball towards the bowler’s end and the batsman didn’t ground his bat probably presuming that he would reach the crease comfortably. Soon Maxwell was castled by Jasprit Bumrah in the very next over which slowed down the scoring of the home side.

But Rishabh Pant arrived at the crease and took charge of the proceedings. He once again bailed his team out of the trouble by stitching crucial partnerships first with Iyer and then with Vijay Shankar. After getting his eye in, the stylish left-hander began to unfurl his shots by taking on the likes of Mayank Markande and Mustafizur Rahman. However, he kept his cool in the middle overs and concentrated on rotating the strike only to go bonkers in the death overs.

The one-handed sixes were absolutely delightful to watch but the maximum which he hit by reversing his stance was the best. It was length delivery on the stumps and Pant had pre-meditated to play the perfect reverse hit. He opened the face of the bat and ramped it over short third man. With him in the middle, Delhi would’ve hoped for a huge total to post. But Krunal Pandya sent him back in the 17th over after which Shankar batted beautifully.

He and Abhishek Sharma hit some lusty blows and added 35 runs in last three overs to propel the team’s total to 174 runs for the loss of 4 wickets after 20 overs.

Mumbai implode in the chase

Mumbai had to gun down the total at any cost to go through to the playoffs and the desperation in their batting was evident. Sandeep Lamichhane opened the bowling for the hosts and Suryakumar Yadav smashed 12 runs off the first three balls and then lobbed the next delivery to long off. Ishan Kishan struggled for the most part of his innings and was gobbled up by Amit Mishra soon after the powerplay. In the meantime, Evin Lewis found his groove and took the special liking to Maxwell.

Lewis was the reason the visitors crossed 50-run mark during the fielding restrictions. But then followed a period where they imploded unnecessarily. After Kishan’s wicket, it was time for Lewis to go back to the dugout. He stepped out to Mishra and missed the ball completely as Pant stumped him. The 10th over of the innings bowled by Lamichhane proved to be a telling blow for the defending champions as he picked the key wickets of Kieron Pollard and Krunal.

While the former was the bunny of the brilliance of Maxwell at the boundary, the bowler earned the next wicket by enticing the drive off Krunal who punched it straight to the cover fielder. After being comfortably placed at 57/1 after 6 overs, Mumbai had collapsed to 78/5 by the 10th over. The skipper Rohit Sharma was yet to face a ball as he was joined by Hardik Pandya with the team. They added 43 runs for the sixth wicket with the latter going haywire against the young leggie from Nepal early in the innings.

However, the resurrection didn’t work wonders for them with Maxwell once again coming to the fore at the long off for Delhi to send back Rohit to make things even more interesting. But Pandya’s headless shot in the final over of Mishra’s spell sealed the fate for Mumbai who still needed 54 runs. He came down the ground to a flighted delivery which spun further away and took the edge of the bat only for the backward point fielder to catch it.

Cutting takes it deep

However, Ben Cutting took the game deep with some lusty blows in the 18th over off Liam Plunkett and brought the equation down to 23 off 12 deliveries. The bowler missed his lines only for the Australian Cutting to go downtown and keep his team in the hunt. But Trent Boult kept his cool and to bowl an exceptional penultimate over and gave away only 5 runs.

The last over drama was here and Harshal Patel was entrusted with the responsibility to win the game for his side. But Cutting was ready for the bouncer and smashed the first ball over the boundary to bring it down to 12 off 4 deliveries. However, the next ball sealed the game for the hosts as the batsman was holed out in the deep even as Jasprit Bumrah also lobbed it in the air which eventually knocked the defending champions out of the tournament.

While there was elation in one camp for ending their season on a high, there were dumb faces in the other as Mumbai had failed to defend their title.

Brief Scores

Delhi Daredevils 174/4 after 20 overs (R Pant 64, V Shankar 43*; K Pandya 1/11, M Markande 1/21)

Mumbai Indians 163 after 19.3 overs (E Lewis 48, B Cutting 37; A Mishra 3/19, S Lamichhane 3/36

Result: Delhi Daredevils won by 11 runs

Man of the Match: Amit Mishra