Sameer Rizvi dazzled in the impact player’s role again as he hammered 90 off 51 balls to secure Delhi Capitals a six-wicket victory over the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday.
Electing to field, Delhi restricted Mumbai to 162-6 on a slow track at the Arun Jaitley Stadium where timing was tricky and stroke-making risky.
Standing in for the ailing skipper Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav top-scored with 51 and Rohit Sharma made 35, but only four sixes in an entire Mumbai innings underscored how hard it was to clear the ropes.
Rizvi mastered those conditions to smash his second successive half-century as Delhi romped home with 11 balls to spare.
Rizvi smacked seven sixes and as many fours in his 51-ball blitz which consigned Mumbai to their first defeat of the season.
Delhi top the standings level on four points with Punjab Kings but ahead on net run-rate.
Mukesh struck twice in the third over, removing Ryan Rickelton and Tilak Varma to reduce Mumbai to 18-2.
Mumbai crawled to 41-2 after the first six powerplay overs in a testimony to Delhi’s tight fielding and discipline with lengths.
Relief came in the seventh over when Rohit smacked the first six of the match to also raise Mumbai’s fifty. Axar Patel, however, removed Rohit just when the opener was threatening to break the shackles.
Kuldeep Yadav conceded 17 runs in the 15th over but the surge was checked almost immediately, when Suryakumar was trapped lbw by Lungi Ngidi.
Delhi’s 42-2 in the powerplay mirrored Mumbai’s sluggish start before opener Pathum Nissanka (44) counter-attacked.
Mitchell Santner removed Nissanka, but Rizvi went after the change bowlers, milking 20 off a Corbin Bosch over and cracking Mayank Markande for back-to-back sixes to put Delhi firmly in control.
(Reuters)
