Delhi Capitals continued their winless streak in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 as the David Warner-led side slumped to a six-wicket loss against Mumbai Indians on Tuesday. With 5 runs needed in the final over, MI looked quite comfortable but disciplined bowling from Andrich Nortje put pressure on Cameron Green and Tim David. With 2 runs needed in the final ball, David played the ball straight to Warner at deep mid-off but his wayward throw to Abhishek Porel allowed the batters to complete the double and seal the victory. In a video going viral on social media, head coach Ricky Ponting and Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly were seen reacting to the effort.
Jason Behrendorff and Piyush Chawla's three-wicket hauls followed by Rohit Sharma's half-century and Tilak Verma's 41 powered Mumbai Indians to a comprehensive 6-wicket win. MI registered their first win of the ongoing season in the thrilling match which went down to the last ball.
Rohit scored the highest for MI with 65 of 45 while Tilak played a helping knock of 41 runs in 29 balls. For DC, Mukesh Kumar bagged two while Mustafizur Rahman scalped one wicket.
Chasing a total of 173, Rohit Sharma started Mumbai Indians' run chase with an aggressive approach as he slammed Mukesh Kumar for two fours and one six, gathering 14 runs in the first over.
Ishan Kishan then followed the captain's lead and hammered Mustafizur Rahman for back-to-back three fours in the second over. The duo brought up their 50-run partnership stand in the 5th over of the match. After 5 overs, MI were at 59 runs without a loss.
However, confusion in the running between the wicket cost opener Kishan his wicket after playing a knock of 31 runs. Kishan returned to the pavilion after getting run out by Mukesh Kumar/Lalit Yadav.
Tilak Varma then came out to bat. In the 11th over of the game, Rohit took a single and brought his half-century, made in 29 balls. The batting pair of Tilak and Rohit were decisive in their approach and made the Delhi bowlers toil hard making merry of the excellent batting conditions on offer.
The Mumbai batters rotated the strike brilliantly, not allowing the Delhi bowlers to settle down while whacking the loose balls on offer. Tilak opened his hands and smoked one four and two back-to-back sixes in the 16th over.
Mustafizur Rahman provided his team with a big breakthrough as he dismissed well-set batter Rohit for 65 in the 17th over of the game.
In the final 18 balls, MI needed 26 runs. After Rohit's departure, Cameron Green and Tim David handled the charge and guided their team home to a six-wicket win over Delhi Capitals in last over thriller.
Earlier, skipper David Warner's fifty and Axar Patel's blitz of 54 runs helped Delhi Capitals (DC) post a respected target as Mumbai Indians (MI) bowlers bundle out DC for 172 runs.
(With ANI inputs)