Faf du Plessis replaced Axar Patel as the captain for this match, as the latter wasn’t feeling well. The South African legend won the toss and decided to chase the target. It was a special moment for Rohit Sharma, as he went out to bat for the first time after the opening ceremony of his stand. Unfortunately, it was a bad outing for him, as he got out after scoring just 5 runs.
More trouble followed for the five-time champions, as Ryan Rickelton and Will Jacks also got out early. While the talented left-hander scored only 25 runs, Jacks was dismissed for 21. With Mumbai at 58 for 3, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma needed to build a partnership—and that’s exactly what they did. DC was in the game until the 18th over, when MI’s score was just 130. However, SKY and Naman Dhir destroyed their bowling lineup, scoring 48 runs in the last two overs.
Mumbai was able to chase a challenging total of 181 on a tricky pitch. DC needed to win the match to keep their qualification hopes alive, but MI’s bowling was just too strong for them. None of Delhi’s batters, including KL Rahul and the captain, du Plessis, managed to survive the five-time champions’ lethal bowling. While Sameer Rizvi held on to his wicket, the rising number of dot balls constantly increased the required run rate.
Vipraj Nigham and Ashutosh Sharma did show some sparks, but Mitchell Santner became the hero for MI. He took three important wickets and gave away just 11 runs in his quota of four overs. After that, it was all Mumbai, as DC were bowled out for just 121 runs. MI won the match by 59 runs and finally qualified for the playoffs. Delhi bowed out of the tournament due to their poor performances, despite winning their first four matches.
Fans react to Mumbai Indians’ emphatic win over the Delhi Capitals
Fans expected the match between MI and DC to be close, but it turned out to be the opposite. The five-time champions showed why they deserve to be in the playoffs by beating their opponents in a one-sided affair. Many fans felt that Hardik Pandya’s team was on track to win their sixth trophy.
One fan was impressed by Pandya’s captaincy and said he proved all his haters wrong. Another fan believed that MI qualifying for the playoffs was bad news for all the other teams. Many fans said that the Capitals lost the match in the last two overs themselves. Here are some of the top reactions from fans:
One user believed that it would be RCB who would be fighting MI in the finals. Another user stated that this was SKY’s best innings in the IPL after the one against Bengaluru. Many fans called DC a choker team in both the IPL and the WPL. Others said DC missed the plot by releasing Shreyas Iyer a few years ago.