Staff Reporter.
Rohit Sharma’s half-century helped steer Mumbai Indians to a thrilling final-ball six-wicket victory against the Delhi Capitals in their Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter on Tuesday in Delhi.
Chasing 173 to win, Sharma struck a match-winning half-century before Tim David and Cameron Green got the side over the line by running two off the final ball to seal their first IPL win of the season.
Sharma and Ishan Kishan got the Mumbai Indians off to a sparkling start, sharing an opening stand of 71.
A breakthrough for the Capitals occurred when Sharma ran for a single against a ball-watching Kishan, who fell way short of his crease and was run out by Lalit Yadav for 31 off 26 balls (hitting six fours).
Sharma then put up a 68-run stand with Tilak Varma before Mukesh Kumar struck twice.
Varma was caught for a fast-paced 41 off 29 balls (hitting a four and four sixes) off the bowling of Kumar, and another followed the following delivery as Suryakumar Yadav was caught for a golden duck.
Skipper Sharma led from the front as he smashed 65 off 45 balls (hitting six fours and four sixes) before Mustafizur Rahman got Sharma to edge slightly to the keeper behind.
David (12*) and Green (17*) got Mumbai Indians over the line off the final ball with a heart-palpitating two despite some stellar death bowling by Anrich Nortje.
Earlier on, David Warner and Axar Patel hit half-centuries to guide Mumbai Indians to 172 all out in 19.4 overs.
The Capitals were sitting solidly at 76-1 before a middle-order collapse resulted from the bowling of Piyush Chawla.
Chawla got Manish Pandey caught for 26, trapped LBW Rovman Powell (4) and bowled Lalit Yadav for 2.
Opener Warner then shared a 67-run stand with Patel before Jason Behrendorff struck thrice for the Mumbai Indians.
Patel was in fiery form compared to his skipper as he smashed 54 off 25 balls (hitting four fours and five sixes) before he was caught at deep square leg off Behrendorff.
Skipper Warner struggled to get going despite bringing up his half-century but soon was caught at short third off Behrendorff for 51 off 47 balls (hitting six fours).
A run-out and soft dismissals saw the Capitals falter in Delhi, with no other batter reaching double figures for Delhi.
Nortje made five and was bowled out by Riley Meredith (2/34) as the Capitals were restricted to 172 all out in 19.4 overs.
Chawla ended on three for 22 in his four overs, while Aussie Behrendorff finished with figures of three for 23 in his three overs.
DELHI CAPITALS (starting XI): Prithvi Shaw, David Warner (captain), Manish Pandey, Yash Dhull, Rovman Powell, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Abishek Porel (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Mustafizur Rahman
MUMBAI INDIANS (starting XI): Rohit Sharma (captain), Ishan Kishan, Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen, Arshad Khan, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff, Riley Meredith.