Romario Shepherd‘s last-over carnage against Anrich Nortje in Mumbai’s batting innings proved to be the difference, earning the hosts their first points of the season. Romario Shepherd innings at a strike rate of enormous 390.00 ensured that the match was in Mumbai’s kitty after the end of first 20 overs itself.
Romario Shepherd had shown his glimpses when he hit some lusty blow versus Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) coming late in pursuit of 277 runs amassed by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in which MI fell short by 31 runs. But at Wankhede on Sunday afternoon, Romario Shepherd made Anrich Nortje forget his bowling by amassing highest runs scored in last over of IPL 16 year history.
Pitch and Toss
The side boundaries are pretty short at 62m and 63m respectively. The straight boundary is at 74m. It’s pitch 7 and it’s absolutely rock hard, this is the same wicket that was used against Rajasthan Royals. It swung for Trent Boult that night, but it shouldn’t be the case today. It’s red-hot and feels warm.
It has a bit of grass, but there should be plenty of runs on offer. There have been 6 day games here and the scores in 5 of them have been between 180-200. The numbers indicate that spinners have gone for less number of runs, but the ball flies here. Chasing side usually does better here. Should be a high scoring game, reckon Mpumelelo Mbangwa and Simon Katich, in their pitch report.
Delhi skipper won the toss and chose to bowl . Delhi handed two debut caps to Kumar Kushagra and Jhye Richardson as Mitchell Marsh and Mukesh Kumar is ruled out due to injuries.
Mumbai skipper Hardik Pandya was happy batting first and made three changes to squad with Suryakumar Yadav coming in for Naman Dhir, Kwena Maphaka making way for Romario Shepherd and Mohammad Nabi comes in for Dewald Brevis.
Rohit Sharma gives Mumbai a blazing start
He got going with a cheeky lap shot for four and soon switched gears to give Mumbai the perfect platform in the powerplay. After back to back boundaries off Ishant Sharma, Rohit welcomed both Jhye Richardson and Axar Patel into the attack with sixes. He took on offspinner Lalit Yadav too, with three boundaries in the space of four balls, to end the powerplay with 75 on the board but Axar cleaned him up on a 27-ball 49 to give DC a much-needed breakthrough.
Given a flat pitch and small boundaries at the Wankhede, Mumbai knew they needed to score big, and Rohit and Kishan laid the perfect foundation. Kishan started by hitting Khaleel Ahmed for three fours in the seamer’s first two overs. From the other end, Rohit hit Ishant Sharma for two successive fours. He took it a notch higher against Jhye Richardson by launching him for two back-to-back sixes.
Seeing the fast bowlers leaking runs, Rishabh Pant turned to his spinners. But Rohit was into overdrive by now. In the next nine balls, he hit four fours and a six against Axar Patel and Lalit Yadav. At the end of six overs, he had moved to 49 off 23 balls and Mumbai to 75 for no loss.
Delhi comeback in middle overs as Axar Patel strikes
Once the field restrictions were relaxed, Capitals staged a comeback with Axar dismissing Rohit. On the last ball of the seventh over, Rohit stepped out of his crease but Axar bowled it short and fast to beat the batter and rattle his stumps. In the next over, Nortje spoiled Suryakumar Yadav’s return. Nortje welcomed him to the crease with a searing yorker before having him caught at mid-on for a two-ball duck.
Thanks to their quick start, Mumbai reached 100 in the tenth over before Axar hurt them again. Having hit a six off the previous ball, Ishan Kishan smashed the next to the left of Axar who stretched out his hand to pull off a stunning return catch. With Hardik Pandya taking his time – he was on 19 off 20 balls at one point – Mumbai could manage only 63 runs in the nine overs after the powerplay.
Anrich Nortje removed the returning Suryakumar Yadav for a second-ball duck to make it a double blow for MI, and Axar continued his tight spell – all fours overs on the trot – to slow down the Mumbai juggernaut. He also took a stunning return catch to remove the dangerous Ishan Kishan after a 23-ball 42, to finish with 2-35. MI scored only 33 runs in the overs between 10 and 15, with Khaleel Ahmed having Tilak Varma caught cheaply at backward point attempting a cut.
Tim David and Romario Shepherd’s onslaught guides MI to 234 for 5 after 20 overs
When MI looked set to be settling for 180-odd eventually, David decided to step on the gas. He dominated the 60-run stand with his captain, Hardik Pandya, hammering four sixes in his unbeaten 21-ball 45 where he took the attack to the pacers at death.
Nortje was welcomed back with a four and a six, and hit back with Pandya’s wicket in the same over but David dished out same against veteran Ishant Sharma to take MI past the 200-mark in the penultimate over. Romario Shepherd took charge then, whacking 4, 6, 6, 6, 4, 6 off the 20th over. His unbeaten 10-ball cameo of 39 turned MI’s strong total into an imposing one as the hosts plucked 96 runs off the final five overs.
Mumbai were 138 for 4 after 15 overs. At that stage, Capitals must have harbored hopes of restricting them to under 200. David and Romario Shepherd, though, had other plans. David started the 16th over by smashing Richardson for a six. In the next two overs, he hit two more sixes and Hardik also chipped in with one but it was Romario Shepherd who made the bigger dent. In the 20th over, Romario Shepherd bludgeoned Nortje for 4, 6, 6, 6, 4, 6 to crush Capitals’ morale.
Prithvi Shaw sets the base for DC as Romario Shepherd strikes early
Romario Shepherd was not done hurting Capitals. In the fourth over, he had David Warner holing out to mid-on with a wide slower ball. Shaw was slow to start. After four overs, he was on 13 off 15 but soon found his range. In the eighth over, he hit Piyush Chawla for 6, 4, 4 off successive deliveries. With a pulled four off Gerald Coetzee, he brought up his half-century, off 31 balls. Along with Abhishek Porel, Shaw took Capitals past 100 in the 11th over but Bumrah ended his innings on 66 by uprooting the leg stump with a searing yorker.
While Bumrah managed to keep the young opener quiet in the powerplay, Shaw took the attack to Gerald Coetzee – slashed for a six – and Akash Madhwal with back to back fours to get DC going.
He then laid into Piyush Chawla with a slog-sweep for a six first ball, followed by two more boundaries. Coetzee continued to be expensive even after the fielding restrictions were off as Shaw moved to a brisk 31-ball half-century before MI resorted to Bumrah, who duly provided the big breakthrough with a peach of a leg-stump toe-crusher that the DC opener had no answer to. That brought Stubbs to the middle.
Tristan Stubbs’ blitz goes in vain as Delhi lost to Mumbai by 29 runs
Promoted over Rishabh Pant, Stubbs wasted no time in the middle. He slog-swept Chawla twice in the space of four balls for sixes and continued the attack on MI in the death overs after seeing off the miserly Bumrah, who finished with 2-22 after Abhishek Porel holed out for 41. Pant was in and out in a jiffy, and Stubbs took it upon himself to keep DC in the hunt.
Madhwal went for 19 in the 16th over that the South African kicked off with a 4, 6, 4 and closed off with a 19-ball fifty to his name. Romario Shepherd was taken for three sixes in the penultimate over, bringing up the 200 for DC in similar time. However, there were no Romario-esque fireworks in the final over with Stubbs not even facing a single ball to take Delhi close.
Stubbs wasted no time to get going. Facing his third ball, he heaved Chawla over deep midwicket for a six and repeated the dose three balls later. Bumrah dismissed Porel for 41 off 31, and Pant fell cheaply, but Stubbs kept going.
He hit Akash Madhwal for two fours and a six on the first three balls of the 17th over and brought up his half-century – his second in two games – off just 19 balls. His hitting meant Capitals reached 172 for 4 after 17 overs, five runs ahead of Mumbai at the same stage. But Bumrah conceded only eight in the next to make it 55 needed from two overs.
Stubbs hit two sixes off Romario Shepherd at the start of the 19th and ended it with another six. But with little support from the other end, Capitals were left needing 34 from six balls. Coetzee conceded only four and also picked up three wickets as Stubbs got stuck at the non-striker’s end.
Presentations and Road Ahead.
Rishabh Pant the loosing skipper said : Definitely we were in contention, but we didn’t have enough runs in the batting powerplay, especially when you’re chasing such a big score., We batted well in the next few overs, but it’s not easy to constantly score 15 rpo for many overs.
Yes, we had a few bad overs (with the ball), but it does happen at times. The bowlers needed to bowl into the wicket, slower ones and the variations were important. The bowlers needed to understand the conditions well. I think we need to improve on a few areas – death-over bowling and our batting as well.
Hardik Pandya the winning skipper said : It was a lot of hard work. We had to clear our minds and make sure that we believed. We will be making tactical changes here and there but this will be our 12 and settling our team now is important. There’s a lot of love and care going around in the changeroom. Belief and backing each other is the attitude out there. Everyone believed we need just one win. It was an amazing start today, always wonderful to get 70 odd in 6 overs.
The way everyone chipped in when the opportunity was coming was good to see. That was some hitting na (On Romario’s heroics). He won us the game. Difference was Romario v Delhi Capitals. I like him. Always has a smile on his face, doesn’t run away. (On why Hardik didn’t bowl) I am fine. I’ll be bowling at the right time, we had everything covered today so did not have to roll my arms over.
Romario Shepherd was Player of the Match for his blazing innings said : My hard work has paid off. I have put in a lot of hard work in the nets. I think you just have to keep a clear mind (when batting at the end). He (Tim David) said no you stay there (strike) and you hit. I was in a good position to capitalize on that ball.
I tried to keep it 50-50 because I don’t want to lean on one side, so 50-50 on batting and bowling. (On where the power comes from) Eating a lot of food I guess, some of it Indian as well (smiles).
Romario Shepherd , the man who made the difference. That 32-run assault on Nortje turns out to be the gamechanger. But Stubbs made a valiant attempt all the way to the end with no support from his mates since his arrival at the crease. 235 was always tough even if was at the Wankhede but DC didn’t bat well. Warner had a soft dismissal. Abhishek who came at No. 3 played shots but couldn’t go at a brisk pace.
Shaw played a good hand with a fifty. Stubbs was sent ahead of Pant and he was outstanding today, hitting even tough balls over the ropes. Bumrah was a massive influence for MI. If not for his yorkers and cunning off-speed deliveries, DC could have got a lot closer or even crossed the line because the rest were being taken for runs. Pant couldn’t put bat on ball properly and Stubbs was left too much to do. In the end, Hardik and his team finally got their smiles back and they do a lap of honor to the kids who have turned up today.