CHENNAI: 80-2 after 10 overs. The first half of the first innings belonged to Delhi Capitals, who had lost Prithvi Shaw and Ajinkya Rahane inside five overs. Skipper Shreyas Iyer was playing a gem. With Shikhar Dhawan for company, he seemed to be leading Delhi to a big total.
It won't be unfair to say that Mumbai Indians were the better side in the second half of the first innings in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. Conceding 82 in the last 10 overs when the opposition had a platform, with stroke-players to follow, was a good effort with the ball.
That proved decisive as Mumbai came up with a concerted effort with the bat as well to post a five-wicket win with two balls to spare. It helped them climb to the top of the table, with 10 points from seven games. Delhi are also on 10 points, but behind on nett run rate.
After the early loss of Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock kept the scoreboard moving. The South African dominated a second-wicket stand with Suryakumar Yadav before falling for a 36-ball 53. Yadav too hit 53 (32 balls). Although these two couldn't see their team to victory, useful runs from Ishan Kishan (28 off 15) and a late partnership between Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya took Mumbai home.
It was going to be a battle between Delhi's strong and in-form batting line-up versus Mumbai's versatile attack. After Trent Boult and Krunal got Mumbai the early wickets by getting rid of two players based in Mumbai, a third stepped up to upset their plans. Iyer was in the kind of touch that suggested he had no need to hit the ball hard. It just raced away after coming in touch with the bat. But his departure in the 15th over for a 33-ball 42 brought Mumbai back.
Brief scores: Delhi 162/4 in 20 ovs (Dhawan 69 n.o, Iyer 42, Pandya 2/26) lost to Mumbai 163/5 in 19.4 ovs (De Kock 53, Suryakumar 53, Rabada 2/28).