IPL 2020: Match 27 – MI vs DC – Who Said What

The 27th match of the Indian Premier League got underway between Mumbai Indians and much in-form Delhi Capitals. The battle between two table toppers was the much-awaited contest and the defending champions turned the match in their favour. Batting first, Delhi Capitals posted a decent 162/4 on the board and MI chased it successfully to win the action by five wickets. Shikhar Dhawan got his best rhythm after long and played a knock of brilliant 69* off 52.

De Kock was named as the player of the match for displaying sheer class against DC. Skipper Shreyas Iyer also came to the team’s rescue as he contributed 42 off 33. Krunal Pandya and Japrit Bumrah remained most economical from Mumbai’s bowling unit as they conceded 26 runs each in their span of four overs. Krunal also scalped two pickets during his spell.

De Kock and Yadav set the tone for MI

Chasing the target in Abu Dhabi, skipper Rohit Sharma remained weak to get anything significant for the team. Quinton de Kock (53 off 36) and Suryakumar Yadav (53 off 32) turned out to be the backbone of Mumbai’s chasing game. Krunal Pandya’s quickfire of 12 runs in seven balls ended things in style for Mumbai. Kagiso Rabada displayed the best show with the ball from DC as he conceded 28 runs to scalp two wickets.

Losing Skipper, Shreyas Iyer said

Definitely, I would say 10-15 short, 170-175 on the board would have looked completely different. We really missed out when Stoinis got out, he was hitting the ball really well and also seeing the ball like a football, that was the main error that we did and something that we really need to work on. Apart from that the effort we put on the field, we could definitely work on that as there were a few misfields and dropped catches as well. Overall they outplayed us in all the departments.

We need to work on our mindsets before the next game. I thought the spinners were bowling well as the ball was coming onto the bat, it wasn’t stopping as it was in the first innings. If we could have squeezed in two more wickets after the powerplay we would have been on top. It is really important for us not to take any team lightly and be positive in our approach. There are still certain elements we have to work and we will use the break to work on that. We have no idea (on Rishabh’s availability), the doctor said he has to rest for a week and hope he comes back really strong.

Winning skipper, Rohit Sharma said

The kind of cricket we are playing gives us a lot of confidence. It’s important to have momentum with us, and it was a perfect day for us, getting those crucial two points. We did everything right, but there are still some things we can improve on. Clinical with the bat, but not so much towards the end. We need one set batsman to finish off the game in general, and some set batsmen got out today, but I don’t want to point fingers because chasing has been difficult in this tournament. Given the conditions, we need to come out and play good cricket, and keep a calm head while chasing. It’s important to have partnerships and we did that today, which got us over the line.

Man of the match, Quinton de Kock said

I enjoyed the win at the end of the day. I just kept it simple. I’ve been batting well in the nets, and it was just a matter of doing well in the game. I knew eventually I would get a score, just had to capitalize on the opportunity. I don’t think it’s getting any cooler, compared to South Africa. We are getting used to the weather, but it does get quite difficult in this heat and humidity.