Champions League SRL | DC vs MI Evaluation Chart - Shikhar Dhawan’s 69* enough to take Delhi home

Match Review

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De Kock’s wicket was arguably the turning point in the SRL encounter, with the Proteas skipper looking in fine form yet again in the series. Batting on 35, the onus, responsibility and everything that could propel them to a good total was on his shoulders. Yet, when the time came, when the bell rang, he walked a long-road back to the dressing room against the Nepali spinner Sandeep Lamichhane. 

Highs and Lows

Dhawal Kulkarni’s form is a terrible-thing for the franchise, being the third pacer in the line-up for the Mumbai side. After being picked by Mumbai before the season, his form has never been a point of concern for the team with Jasprit Bumrah and Lasith Malinga’s amazing display. However, with the Delhi side tackling the opening bowlers with such ease, the onus was the Mumbai pacer. His spell of 45/0 in four overs really did not serve his or the team’s purpose on the night.  

Rating Charts

Despite losing Rohit Sharma early on in the powerplay, the Mumbai side had a good start to the game, especially in the powerplay overs. After a slow start early on, they surely picked their pace in the fourth and fifth over, scoring 10 and 15 runs respectively. In the end, the two-over boost was enough to take them to a total of 42 for the loss of one wicket. 

On the other hand, we have to address Delhi’s approach in the powerplay overs, chasing Mumbai’s first-innings total. Not only did they take the cautious approach but also made sure that the duo of Lasith Malinga-Jasprit Bumrah did not create chaos early on in the innings. Full points to them for that, however, their runs did not do them any favour on the rating chart. 

Just as the powerplay curtain was drawn, Rohit Sharma and co fell stunningly behind in terms of scoring runs. They took the cautious approach for sure but the only difference being, they took it for a long-time, which did not serve them any purpose. Eventually, their middle-over approach was what resulted in them losing the game in a shambolic manner, scoring 73 runs. 

Delhi were incredible throughout the game, with some stunning display by their batsmen. Never at any point in the game did they look vulnerable, not even a bit. On top of that, they just lost two wickets - Jason Roy and Shreyas Iyer. In terms of run-scoring, they were miles ahead of their counterparts, having scored 91 runs in the middle-phase, which surely put them on the victory pedestal. 

Mumbai Indians’ death bowling was a hoax, just like their positive batting approach early on in the game. In the 16 death-over balls that they did bowl, the trio of bowlers conceded 38 runs with just the wicket of Pant. They conceded nearly at 12 runs an over and given that it needed to clutch it from the jaws of defeat, they approach looked more confusing and lacklustre. 

To be honest, Delhi too did not do a great job towards the end of the innings. After having restricted the free-flowing Mumbai batsmen to a total of 115/4 at the end of the 15th over. From 115/4, to give a room of breathing space for the 2019 IPL champions was entirely disappointing. In terms of numbers, they let go of 45 runs while picking up three wickets. 

On a rating of five, this game could only be given two stars and that was all it was worthy of. There were plenty of runs on display alongside wickets. However, when it comes to a proper show, it had really nothing but worthy of a Champions League encounter.