CHENNAI: They had everything to lose; their opponents nothing. But the way Mumbai Indians went about with their business during their must-win clash against Delhi Daredevils at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium on Sunday, it seemed otherwise.
A playoff berth was at stake for them. They had already been apprised of the threat that the home team's wrist-spinners were capable of posing; the exploits of Sandeep Lamichhane and a finally-rejuvenated Amit Mishra which had tripped up the rampant Chennai Super Kings was being played by TV channels on loop since Friday night. And yet, Mumbai failed to live up to their moniker of "IPL's gatecrashers" when it mattered.
Doubts over their being able to do so had taken root half-an-hour before the clash itself, courtesy of Rohit Sharma's decision to bring in Mustafizur Rahman instead of Mitchell McClenaghan. The latter hasn't really been terrorising batsmen during this season. But the decision of benching a pacer with oodles of game-time during a crunch clash, that too for another who hasn't both lived up to expectations or seen a minute on the field this month, may not have gone down well among Mumbai's aficionados.
It didn't go down well for Rohit Sharma and his men either. That the Bangladesh speedster had a lacklustre day in office — he ended with 0/34 from his four — didn't really do much to snap the golden streak that Rishabh Pant and his willow have been on. That the southpaw even smacked Rahman for a one-handed six was fate making its ominous, ironic presence felt way before the final act of this clash, one that would turn out to be anti-climactic for Mumbai.
Delhi trod the batting narrative that they've become accustomed to this season. Pant top-scored for his team yet again — eighth time, second-best in the tournament's history — and reclaimed ownership of the Orange Cap. Aided by yet another sturdy innings from Vijay Shankar — and by the ineffectiveness that Mumbai's tweakers have exhibited this month — Delhi had coasted to 174/4 from their day's quota.
Considering the slow, gripping nature of the venue and the high-stakes nature of this match, "caution" and "grafting towards an eventual onslaught" might have featured among the predictions for how Mumbai's batsmen would be expected to approach this chase. Twenty overs later, though, all those who did plump for that prognosis would have been left scratching their heads.
In hindsight, Suryakumar Yadav's dismissal may very well be construed as a foreshadowing of sorts of how the men below him would be sent back to the dugout.
Having smacked Lamichhane for a four and six off the chase's first two balls, the go-to man for Mumbai tried to smash another loopy offering from Delhi to his home venue. It turned out to be a googly, and the right-hander's harakiri resulted in him walking back for a 4-ball 12.
Despite a solid start courtesy Evin Lewis, others followed suit. Though both Lamichhane and Mishra were at their best, such was the tameness and needlessness of the dismissals of Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard and Rohit that they'd rather have attached a bow to a stump and handed it back to Delhi's bowlers.
Hardik Pandya and Ben Cutting did provide glimmers of hope, but the non-support from their batting spine left them resembling the boy in Casablanca, as the defending champions' ship went down in flames.
"Target was more or less achievable. The way we started with the bat was perfect, it's just that we lost our way in the middle. We have had similar problems in the past. We got close but it dragged us down at the end of the day," Cutting said.
Brief scores: Delhi Daredevils 174/4 in 20 ovs (Pant 64, Shankar 43 n.o) bt Mumbai Indians 163 in 19.3 ovs (Lewis 48; Mishra 3/19, Lamichhane 3/36).
rahulravi@newindianexpress.com