Delhi Daredevils spilt catches, went astray with throws and messed up run-outs but still managed to finish its Indian Premier League campaign on a high with a 11-run win against Mumbai Indians in its last match here on Sunday.
In the process, it also knocked out the defending champion from the competition as MI, who had had a below-par season, collapsed after taking control of the game early on, failing to chase a 175-run target.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
It was, in fact, a match that saw DD at its best and worst in every department, perhaps recapping its entire season in the space of 40 overs. Prithvi Shaw and Vijay Shankar spilled regulation catches but Glenn Maxwell and Trent Boult combined for brilliance at the ropes. Harshal Patel was expensive and off-target with the ball but the spin duo of veteran Amit Mishra and youngster Sandeep Lamichhane kept a check on the spree with three wickets each.
Lamichhane, the first Nepali in the IPL, ended with five wickets in three games for a successful debut season. His two wickets in the 10th over – sending back the dangerous Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya – was the turning point in MI's chase. That brief period saw MI lose three wickets in a space of five balls to go from 57 for two to 80 for five.
Maxwell, who has been disappointing with both bat and ball all through, finally redeemed himself with airborne catches running in from long-on, and then throwing them to back-up Boult before crossing the ropes – twice. It saw the ends of Pollard and Rohit Sharma respectively and MI never recovered, despite Ben Cutting's late fightback.
Earlier, Rishabh Pant scored his fifth half-century of the season to go on top of the scorers' list. For a large part in the domestic season, Pant has opened for Delhi. He has practically been forced to play the same role with DD all over again, given the disappointment from the various opening combinations experimented with.
And he delivered. On Sunday, a combination of brute power, perfect timing and well-placed shots saw the youngster steady the DD innings after another wobble at the top. He bisected the field on either side of the pitch with ease for his boundaries. When he failed to connect properly, raw power came to the rescue, with the ball flying all the way even off one-handed hits.
By the time he fell, he had given enough hope to DD. Abhishek Sharma displayed his clean-hitting skills yet again and Vijay Shankar continued the acceleration to give the DD bowlers a competitive total to defend. Pant would be satisfied with both his personal form this IPL and his role in helping DD finish on a high. Sadly, the top run scorer of the league stages would play no further part in the competition.
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