Lalit Yadav-Axar Patel stand denies Mumbai Indians in yet another opener

Led by an unbeaten 75-run stand for the seventh wicket by Axar Patel and Lalit Yadav, Delhi Capitals scripted a turnaround in their opening encounter of IPL 2022 to register a four-wicket win over Mumbai Indians at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday. The duo's five-over partnership helped bail Delhi out of a precarious position and overhaul Mumbai Indians' score of 177 for 5 with 10 balls to spare. With that, Mumbai Indians lost their opening fixture for the 10th successive season.

Tuaround?

Yes. Delhi Capitals were reeling at 104 for 6 in the 14th over in the chase. All that the five-time champions were left to do at that point was hit the killer blow. That could have come in the first ball of the 16th over itself when Axar hit Thampi straight to Tim David at long on, only for the Aussie to fluff his lines. His luck stretched further when David's throw to the bowler's end wasn't collected by Thampi and an opportunity to run him out on 15 was missed. Thereafter, the opportunity never came. The left-hander went on to finish with a 17-ball 38.

When he came into the middle, Lalit Yadav too was struggling. Batting on 17 off 25 after being sent in at No. 5, he struggled to time the ball for the early part of his stay. He eventually broke free on the last ball of the 14th over with a pull over deep square against Basil Thampi.

The lower order duo went about the chase smartly even as the required rate was above 10 an over for a good part of their alliance. In the 16th over, however, Axar began the over bowled by Jasprit Bumrah with a six over long on and Lalit followed it up with a boundary to a short ball through point. With balls flying all over the ground, Thampi and Daniel Sams could do little to contain the duo, and leaked 13 and 24 runs respectively in the next two overs to help Delhi finally take control of the contest.

What happened before that?

Mumbai Indians bowlers were all over Delhi Capitals.

Tim Siefert had provided the visitors a strong start with two boundaries each in the first two overs - bowled by Sams and Bumrah. However, Murugan Ashwin's introduction in the fourth over derailed the start. Seifert was cleaned up with a googly and Mandeep Singh hit his second ball - an innocuous full toss - straight to the mid on fielder. Tymal Mills then had Rishabh Pant caught at third man.

After being reduced to 32 for 3 in the fourth over, Prithvi Shaw single-handedly took charge of Delhi's chase. While there were a few streaky boundaries, he was quick to pounce on the short deliveries by Mills - pulling him for a six and a four. However, an attempted pull off Thampi in the 10th over brought about his downfall, with Ishan Kishan taking a fine catch. The short-ball tactic worked well for Thampi as Rovman Powell too fell for it two balls later, caught at deep square leg for a duck.

Who was the standout player of Mumbai Indians' innings?

Ishan Kishan

The left-handed opener, in his new role, remained unbeaten through the course of his innings, scoring an unbeaten 48-ball 81. For as attacking as he was, he picked pace in the latter half of the innings. Despite having drilled Khaleel Ahmed through the cover region for a boundary off the third ball at the end of the 16th over, he was still batting on 47 off 33 balls.

However, in the last two overs, he took the attack to Delhi Capitals' bowlers. He smashed Khaleel for a couple of boundaries in the penultimate over followed by a couple more against Shardul in the last - in what proved to be the most productive over of the innings with 18 runs.

His late assault helped Mumbai Indians amass a competitive 177 for 5.

What was going on from the other end?

Rohit Sharma had helped Mumbai Indians to a strong start with a boundary through fine leg and a six over extra cover in the first over itself, bowled by Shardul Thakur. The MI skipper was the attacker-in-chief in the powerplay. He meted out a similar treatment to Kamlesh Nagarkoti in the fifth over. He did get a life in the following over when his attempted lap shot off Khaleel went to Shardul at short fine leg but was dropped. However, he couldn't make much use of the opportunity, falling to Kuldeep Yadav on 41 in the ninth over.

The left-arm spinner was at his vintage best, keeping a tight leash on MI's scoring in the middle overs. On a flat deck and small boundary, he cleverly changed his pace and restricted the scoring. Anmolpreet Singh, who was dropped by Kuldeep off the second ball, struggled against him before eventually falling on a 9-ball 8.

Tilak Varma, playing his maiden IPL match, showed promise with some fluent strokes and even hit Kamlesh Nagarkoti for three boundaries in four balls before his upper cut off Khaleel ended in the hands of Prithvi Shaw at third man. Kuldeep eventually had Pollard dismissed to cap off an impressive day with returns of 3 for 18, and leave Mumbai Indians down to 122 for 4 in the 16th over.

On a pitch that aided shot making, Kuldeep and Khaleel were impressive with their variations, but the rest of the bowling attack struggled. Axar, who was brought on to bowl in the powerplay, conceded 40 runs without picking a wicket - his worst returns in IPL since the start of the 2019 season.

Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 177/5 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 81*, Rohit Sharma 41; Kuldeep Yadav 3-18, Khaleel Ahmed 2-27) lost to Delhi Capitals 179/6 in 18.2 overs (Lalit Yadav 48*, Axar Patel 38*; Basil Thampi 3-35, Murugan Ashwin 2-14) by 4 wickets