Twitter Reactions: Lalit Yadav and Axar Patel stun Mumbai Indians as DC get off to a winning start

Wow!! What a game! Two Indian players – Lalit Yadav and Axar Patel – have managed to stun the five-time champions Mumbai Indians. Delhi Capitals looked down and out at 104/6 in the 178-run chase. But this duo played some brilliant shots to keep the team in the hunt and launched the assault in the last few overs to take the Capitals home with as many as 10 balls in hand.

Earlier, after opting to bowl first, the Capitals couldn’t struck early in the innings. MI openers Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma got the team off to an excellent start. Though the track had grass on it, the ball didn’t swing for long and the latter took toll on the opposition bowlers smashing fours and sixes at will.

At the other end, Kishan just made sure to play second fiddle to his skipper. The duo added 67 runs in just 8.2 overs before Kuldeep Yadav announced his comeback with a big wicket of Rohit. Anmolpreet Singh couldn’t do much at three as the chinaman got the better of him in his next over. However, young Tilak Varma turned heads with some exciting stroke-making in his debut IPL game.

But he and Kieron Pollard got out in a span of nine balls and at 122/4 in the 16th over, MI found themselves in trouble. Kuldeep Yadav also finished a superb spell of bowling returning with the figures of 3/18. His wicket of Pollard was a huge one in the context of the game with Tim Seifert plucking a brilliant catch.

This is when Ishan Kishan stepped on the accelerator taking the control of the innings into his hands. He smartly paced his innings and took on the DC bowlers who were not up to the mark with their lines. Shardul Thakur was at the receiving end especially going for a lot of runs in his final two overs. He was taken apart for 29 runs in his last two overs taking his overall tally to 0/47 on the day.

Kishan, on the other hand, proved his mettle yet again remaining unbeaten on 81 runs off 48 balls with 11 fours and two sixes. MI ended their innings on 177/5 in their 20 overs.

Axar and Lalit do the unthinkable for DC

Delhi Capitals got off to a stunning start in response with Tim Seifert taking the attack to MI’s leading bowler Jasprit Bumrah. The Kiwi batter raced off to 21 runs before Murugan Ashwin castled him and in the same over, the leg-spinner also picked Mandeep Singh off a harmless full toss. Tymal Mills came into the attack in the 5th over and dismissed Rishabh Pant off his very first ball for MI to leave DC reeling at 32/3.

Prithvi Shaw, at the other end, kept going playing some impressive shots like he always does. But yet again he couldn’t convert a good start into a big one top-edging off Basil Thampi after scoring 38. Soon Rovman Powell also got out for a duck and at 72/5, Delhi were down and out of the game. Shardul Thakur was surprisingly sent ahead of Axar Patel then who played his shots and collected 22 runs off 11 balls.

But his wicket should have been curtains for Delhi surely. At 1-4/6, many felt the game was MI’s to lose. However, Lalit Yadav had faced a decent number of deliveries until then while Axar Patel came out all guns blazing for them. They played proper cricketing shots and stunned the MI bowlers on the day. Clearly, the five-time champions didn’t expect the assault and they were taken aback by their approach.

Moreover, Bumrah had an off day for MI and in turn, their bowlers couldn’t cover up for him. The likes of Mills, Daniel Sams, Thampi all went for plenty as Lalit and Axar churned boundaries for fun. Rather it was such a sublime hitting that the duo ended the game in the 19th over itself keeping 10 balls in hand.

While Lalit Yadav remained unbeaten on 48 off 38 balls, Axar scored winning runs smashing 38 off just 17 balls with two fours and three massive sixes.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: