IPL 2021: NO-balls haunt Mumbai Indians in the final overs against Delhi
Defending champions Mumbai Indians struggled against Delhi Capitals as No-ball from MI bowlers proved to be a big problem for them.
In today’s match between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians, both teams were confident as they won their previous matches. MI and DC looked for a chance to make their position in the points table much stronger with the win today.
Mumbai Indians won the toss and decided to bat first, despite de Kock’s early dismissal, skipper Rohit Sharma provided the solid start needed for the team in the powerplay with his batting. Sharma scored 44 runs off of 30 balls, Ishan Kishan, Jayant Yadav, and Surya Kumar Yadav’s contribution added to the total of 137 runs for 20 overs, but the team fell short as the Pandya brothers and Pollard failed to perform.
Delhi Capitals target was to chase 138 runs in 20 overs, opener Prithvi Shaw failed to deliver as he was dismissed for just 7 runs by Jayant Yadav, but Shikhar Dhawan stood ground and played an impressive innings scoring 45 runs off of 42 balls, he was sufficiently supported by Steven Smith who wasn’t very impressive but scored 33 runs, captain Rishabh Pant failed to go-big for the team as he went back to the pavilion for just 7 runs.
At this point, it seemed like both teams had an equal chance to win the match as Delhi’s batsmen were consistently scoring but Mumbai Indians are known for their impeccable finishing ability during death overs.
Mumbai bowlers, especially Jasprit Bumrah are known for their ability to perform well under pressure by restricting batsmen from hitting big and taking key wickets to upset the batting side, Bumrah has proved this in the previous matches where Mumbai had a nail-biting finish against Kolkata.
But today, it seemed like Bumrah had no luck with the ball, as he went on to bowl to crucial No-balls that costed the match for Mumbai Indians. Although No-balls is a part of the game, Bumrah’s no-balls were deciding due to the fact that both his free hits had catches taken by fielders. Delhi’s batsmen only managed to score 2 runs for his no-balls but were saved from going back to the pavilion because of the free hit which resulted in them scoring a total of 10 runs for Bumrah in his over.
Bumrah’s costly over of 10 runs combined with No-balls and wicket-taking free-hits completely diminished Mumbai’s chances of winning the match as Delhi smoothly sailed across to victory in the next over with 5 balls left.