Suryakumar Yadav
Mumbai: When it mattered, the Mumbai Indians’ array of match-winners raised their hands, while a badly depleted Delhi Capitals went missing. A tremendous late blitzkrieg by Suryakumar Yadav (73 not out, 43b, 7×4, 4×6) and Naman Dhir (24 not out, 8b, 2×4, 2×6), and splendid spells by the world’s premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah (three for 12 in 3.2 overs) and Kiwi left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner (three for 11 in four overs), helped MI secure the last playoff spot as they delivered a crushing 59-run knockout blow to a thoroughly outplayed Delhi Capitals — badly missing their captain Axar Patel, who was down with a bad flu — in front of their cheering home fans at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday night. Joining Gujarat Titans, Punjab Kings and RCB in the playoffs, MI thus played a ‘perfect match’ in their final outing of IPL 2025, before taking a lap around the ground to acknowledge the support of their loyal, enthusiastic home crowd. With DC’s playoff dreams ending in a nightmare, the rest of the league matches will now be played only to decide the top two spots. Going all guns blazing in the final two overs of the innings — in which they plundered 48 runs (the 19th by Mukesh Kumar went for 27, while the 20th by Dushmantha Chameera went for 20) — Surya and Dhir helped MI finish at 180 for five in 20 overs, at least 20 runs above par, after they had struggled to find momentum on a pitch where the ball was gripping and turning too. Left stunned by the final 12-ball assault from Surya and Dhir, DC slumped to 27 for three in the fifth over as stand-in captain Faf du Plessis (6), ‘Impact Player’ KL Rahul (11, hampered by a knee injury after being hit in the nets by Mukesh Kumar the previous evening), and Abhishek Porel (6) fell quickly.Quiz: Who’s that IPL player? Premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah trapped Tristan Stubbs (2) lbw with an incoming ball before uprooting the off-stump of IPL debutant Madhav Tiwari (3) with a scorcher. Extracting sharp turn, Santner accounted for Vipraj Nigam (20, caught and bowled) and Ashutosh Sharma (18, stumped), as DC, putting up a pathetic show, folded up for 121 in 18.2 overs. Few would’ve imagined that they would crash out at the league stage itself, having won five of their first six matches! Earlier, for 18 overs of their innings, MI — held back by a pitch on which the ball was stopping and turning — kept crawling in this do-or-die match for both teams. When skipper Hardik Pandya was caught at backward point by Mukesh Kumar off Dushmantha Chameera, after scratching around for three runs off six balls, MI, tottering at 123 for five in the 17th over, looked to be falling short of a par score. And then, magic happened — exactly when MI needed it to. Pouncing on DC’s hapless pacers Mukesh Kumar and Dushmantha Chameera like hungry tigers, Surya and his ‘partner-in-crime’ Naman Dhir took 48 off the final two overs of the innings — a demolition job that included four sixes and as many fours, to take MI to a fighting score after they were asked to bat first by the visitors. Going all guns blazing after an unusually patient stint in the middle, India’s T20 captain plundered 33 off 13 balls in a whirlwind, unbeaten 57-run partnership off just 21 balls for the sixth wicket with the equally ballistic Dhir (24, 8b, 2×4, 2×6), turning the match on its head. It was Surya who launched the offensive in the first ball of the 18th over when he dispatched Mukesh over extra cover for a superb six to reach his fourth half-century of the season, before Dhir took the Indian seamer further to the cleaners by smashing back-to-back sixes off his fifth and sixth deliveries — a whip over wide long-on followed by a heave to the same part of the ground that just cleared the fence.
Dhir then crashed Mukesh’s last ball for a four past extra cover to round off the loot from an over which went for 27. Troubled by an injury that saw him walk off the ground after being hammered black and blue, the pacer who seemed to be having a fine outing till that disastrous over with figures of 3-0-21-2, saw his night end in misery with final figures of 4-0-48-2.Surya then clubbed Chameera for two consecutive sixes to deep mid-wicket in the 20th over, and followed it up with his best shot of the night, opening the face of the bat to a perfect yorker that saw the ball racing past the wicketkeeper. The dashing Mumbai batter has enjoyed tremendous form in this IPL with 583 runs in 13 matches at an average of 72.87 and a strike rate of 170.46. He is currently the third-highest run-getter in this edition.It’s also worth noting that Dhir has made notable contributions at the No. 7 slot throughout the campaign, playing the finisher’s role to perfection.
