MI vs DC Highlights, Today IPL Match: Mumbai Indians storm into playoffs with 59-run victory over Delhi Capitals

Bumrah finishes with superb figures of 3/12, getting rid of Mustafizur Rahman for a golden duck, as Mumbai Indians become the fourth and final team to enter the playoffs with a 59-run thrashing of the Delhi Capitals!

It was against the Delhi Capitals that Mumbai Indians began their turnaround earlier this season, collecting a thrilling 12-run win at the Arun Jaitley Stadium after losing four of their first five matches of the season. That would be the beginning of a six-match winning streak that would have the Hardik Pandya-led side topping the points table at one point.

Wednesday’s meeting between the two sides at the Wankhede Stadium, however, couldn’t be more different with Mumbai Indians absolutely bossing the game apart from a slowdown in the middle overs during their innings.

A five per cent chance of rain certainly looks promising for everyone involved, for players as well as for those turning up at the Wankhede Stadium or watching the game from the comfort of their homes.

Delhi Capitals’ playoff hopes a virtually extinguished in Mitchell Santner’s final over of the evening as the Kiwi left-arm spinner, making his first appearance in nearly a month, gets rid of Sameer Rizvi and Ashutosh Sharma in a space of four deliveries. DC needed at least one of the two to stay till the end for them to have a chance, but are facing at a big loss with both gone.

Jasprit Bumrah castles Madhav Tiwari with a slower delivery in the following over to leave Mumbai Indians needing two more wickets for a huge win! DC 110/8 after 16; need 71 to win off 24

Jacks completely misjudges the trajectory of the ball and ends up gifting Rizvi a boundary by making a mess of what should have been a regulation catch. To make matters worse, Ashutosh Sharma – who had collected a four earlier in the over – targets the same region two balls later and comfortably clears the fence to collect a six in the final delivery.

Santner, however, keeps things tidy by conceding just two singles in the following delivery, ensuring Delhi remain under scoreboard pressure. DC 84/5 after 12; need 97 off 48

Nigam had steered DC to a thrilling victory over LSG from a similar position in their opening game of the season, and his presence at the crease will be crucial for the team to keep their playoff hopes alive.

MI, meanwhile, introduce spin from both ends with Mitchell Santner conceding six in the final over of the powerplay – including a four off his first delivery of the evening. And Rohit ends up handing Vipraj a lifeline by dropping a simple catch at short third man in the final delivery of the powerplay.

Surya starts off with a four at the start of the over and turns down a single in the following delivery. Turns out to be the right call from the well-set senior batter as he smacks the Sri Lankan pacer for back-to-back sixes followed by a clever four in the next three deliveries. He ends the innings with a single as MI plunder 48 runs in the last two overs! The unbroken partnership between Surya and Naman is worth 57 off 21 balls.

Had it not been for tidy spells from spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam as well as last-minute replacement Mustafizur Rahman, MI would have finished well above 200.

Pacer Mukesh Kumar collects his second wicket of the evening after Tilak Varma holes out to Sameer Rizvi at long on while attempting to smash an off-cutter out of the park. Excellent recovery by Mukesh after getting hit for a boundary at the start of the over.

Kuldeep Yadav bowls out his final over next up, conceding just four singles in it to sign off with excellent figures of 1/22. MI 118/4 after 16

Chameera, returning for the first time since his 15-run over in the powerplay, keeps things tidy with three singles in the first four deliveries. Tilak decides to try something different and scoops the ball over the keeper’s head in the penultimate delivery to try and boost Mumbai’s scoring rate.

Vipraj Nigam concedes just four in the following over to sign off with figures of 0/25.

Axar Patel is “really sick” for the last two days, says the South African who had led Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the last three seasons.

Faf, meanwhile, opts to field at the venue that has generally favoured chasing.

Here are the lineups for today’s match:

Mumbai Indians: Ryan Rickelton(wk), Rohit Sharma, Will Jacks, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah

Delhi Capitals: Faf du Plessis(c), Abishek Porel(wk), Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Madhav Tiwari, Kuldeep Yadav, Dushmantha Chameera, Mustafizur Rahman, Mukesh Kumar

The skies currently look clear in Mumbai in the visuals shared by Mumbai Indians on social media ahead of toss:

Chinnaswamy had a majority of the crowd turn up in white jerseys for RCB’s home game against KKR on Saturday after Virat Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket. Will Wankhede follow suit today for MI’s crucial home game against DC?

The RCB-KKR match, though, had ended in a washout. Will MI-DC suffer a similar fate?

Mumbai Indians will be returning to action after more than two weeks. Their previous match, against Gujarat Titans at the Wankhede Stadium, turned out to be quite the see-saw battle in which the Shubman Gill-led side were cruising at one stage in their chase of a 156-run target, only for MI to stage a superb fightback thanks to some outstanding bowling by Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult and Ashwani Kumar.

The match, however, witnessed multiple interruptions due to rain, with the possibility of a washout appearing quite likely at one point. In the end, Rahul Tewatia and Gerald Coetzee got their team over the line after the target was revised to 147 from 19 overs, having to wait until the final delivery to secure their triumph.

A washout will not have a direct impact on MI and DC’s qualification chances, i.e. neither team will get knocked out. MI will remain a point ahead of DC and they will give them a cushion heading into the final league game – both facing Punjab Kings in a space of three days.

Delhi will have to defeat Punjab and then hope Mumbai don’t win against the Shreyas Iyer-led side. MI, on the other hand, will qualify with a washout as well, unless DC thrash PBKS by an extraordinary margin that helps them catch up in terms of Net Run Rate.