Mumbai, May 21 (UNI) A sublime unbeaten 73 from Suryakumar Yadav and a blistering late cameo by Naman Dhir powered Mumbai Indians (MI) to a strong total of 180 for 5 against Delhi Capitals (DC) in their IPL clash at the Wankhede Stadium here on Wednesday.
After being put in to bat, MI suffered an early blow when Rohit Sharma (5) edged Mustafizur Rahman to the keeper in the third over, silencing the home fans. Ryan Rickelton (25 off 18) provided some momentum with back-to-back sixes off Dushmanta Chameera, but fell to Kuldeep Yadav in the seventh over, mistiming a slog-sweep to deep square leg — Kuldeep’s 100th IPL scalp.
Will Jacks (21 off 13) entertained briefly before being undone by an off-cutter from Mukesh Kumar. Tilak Varma (27 off 27) steadied the innings alongside Suryakumar, striking a cheeky scoop over the keeper and a lucky under-edge to the boundary, but never found fluency and holed out off Mukesh just as MI looked to accelerate.
Suryakumar, however, was in imperious touch. After a watchful start, he exploded in the back half. His fifty came up in style — a lofted extra-cover six off Mukesh Kumar in the 19th over brought the spectators to life. He earlier muscled Mustafizur over long-off and punched Chameera through third, oozing confidence. His 73* came off 43 balls with 7 fours and 4 sixes, providing the backbone of the innings.
Hardik Pandya (3) failed to make an impact, falling to Chameera’s slower ball that gripped and found the outside edge.
It was Naman Dhir (24 not out off 8) who set the stadium alight at the death. In the 19th over, he first slapped Mukesh Kumar over extra cover for four and then whipped a length ball over midwicket for a towering six — a stunning exhibition of timing and wristwork. His 18-run burst in that over gave MI a final flourish.
Among the bowlers, Mukesh Kumar (4-0-48-2) was expensive despite picking up key wickets, while Kuldeep Yadav (4-0-22-1) was the pick of the attack. Mustafizur (4-0-30-1) and debutant Vipraj Nigam (4-0-25-0) were economical in patches, but MI’s middle and late order ensured they ended on a high.
