Leading from the front, Delhi Capitals skipper Shreyas Iyer hammered an unbeaten half-century to help his team put up a competitive total of 156 for 7 against Mumbai Indians in the final of the Dream11 Indian Premier League at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
Iyer, who hails from Mumbai, hit an undefeated 65 off 50 deliveries and smashed six fours and couple of big sixes to give his team a chance to claim their maiden IPL title.
Opting to bat first, DC suffered a top-order collapse as speedster Trent Boult (3 for 30) and off-spinner Jayant Yadav (1 for 25) — picked in the playing eleven in place of leg-spinner Rahul Chahar — dismissed the top three batsmen within the first four overs.
DC couldn’t take the advantage of powerplay as they managed just 41 runs for the loss of three wickets in the first six overs.
Iyer and Rishabh Pant (56: 38 balls, 4×4, 2×6) rescued DC with a big partnership of 96 runs. The left-right combination of Pant and Iyer brought back DC into the game with a nearly hundred-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Defending champions MI seized the momentum back again after Pant’s wicket to restrict them below 160-run mark. Shikhar Dhawan did well to score 15 runs but was guilty of throwing his wicket away when the experienced southpaw played an ambitious cross-batted shot off Yadav and was cleaned up by the offie.
Boult got MI off to a flying start by getting last match’s man-of-the-match Marcus Stoinis caught behind on the very first ball of the outing. Nathan Coulter-Nile also bowled an excellent spell and returned with an impressive figures of 2-29.
DC are unchanged for the final while MI have made one tactical change. Yadav was brought in keeping in mind the number of left-handers in the DC line-up.
Four-time IPL champions MI will try to bag their fifth on against the first-time finalists DC. While MI have lost only five of the 15 matches they have played this season and finished top of the table in the league stage, DC, after getting their campaign off to a sensational beginning, faltered towards the end of the league stage losing four matches consecutively.
Brief scores
Delhi Capitals 156 for 7 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 65 not out, Rishabh Pant 56, Shikhar Dhawan 15; Trent Boult 3-30, Nathan Coulter-Nile 2-29, Jayant Yadav 1-25) vs Mumbai Indians.
Courtesy: orangecitysports.com
