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In IPL 2023, Rohit Sharma's elegant 65 helps the nervous Mumbai Indians get going.
Mumbai wasn't at their best, but one could argue that they didn't need to be when playing the disorganized Delhi Capitals. The five-time IPL champions earned their first victory of the year because to Rohit Sharma's 65. They won off the last ball when Tim David scampered through for a two as they held DC to 172 on a belter of a track. As a result, the Delhi team is the only team this year that has yet to record a victory.
Mumbai chose to bowl after winning the toss. This season, chasing has proven to be the best strategy, therefore MI, who had batted first in the first two games, made the decision to follow the early trend. It was an opportunity for DC to confront the MI bowlers head-on with everything they had.
Prithvi Shaw has come under considerable strain to support a batting unit that sadly lacks the big-hitting firepower that nearly every club needs to win the IPL. But the DC opener once more stalled out. He reached 15 (10 balls) before hitting Cameron Green with a pass from Hrithik Shokeen. He could have hit it anywhere, but he chose the tallest fielder, and his annoyance was evident to all as he walked off the pitch.
However, DC's run-rate continued to be respectable. Manish Pandey's 26 off 18 balls came after Shaw's cameo, and by the time the powerplay overs were over, the home team had a respectable 51/1. While hardly a great start, it was sufficient to keep them in the running. a base from whence they might have launched themselves.
But that's where Piyush Chawla entered the picture. The leg-spinner, who is 34 years old, has been around for a while, but most people will still remember him for bowling Sachin Tendulkar out in a Challenger Series game in 2005 (with a googly, no less).
He demonstrated against DC that, despite not being a member of the India team, he still had the talent to provide problems for batters on occasion. At a crucial stage, his 4-0-22-3 spell snapped the DC innings' back. He started by dismissing Pandey, and then he returned Lalit Yadav (2) and Rovman Powell (4) to the dugout.
After 12.3 overs, this dropped DC to 98/5. If Chawla had hung on to an opportunity presented by David Warner one over earlier, things would have become worse. But the home team was in serious trouble and in desperate need of encouragement.
Axar Patel, who has recently made headlines for his impressive batting performances, arrived and carried out the task at hand. His side received a boost because to his 54 off 24 balls, but many were left to ponder if Warner could have performed better. His side didn't exactly benefit from his 51 off 47 balls at a strike rate of just 108.51. Simply put, the timing and power were absent.
In response, MI got off to a blistering start to reach 68/0 at the end of their powerplay overs with the help of the dew. The driving force in the early going and for a time was Rohit Sharma, who scored 39 off 19 balls.
The MI captain and Ishan Kishan (31 off 26) got into a significant mix-up, but it had little bearing on the outcome of the match.
Rohit's performance on Tuesday was crucial for MI because of their inexperienced lineup. He not only made the crucial shots, but he also persevered almost to the very end to assist his team win the game.
Tilak Verma, MI's most reliable batter this season, was with him, and the youngster didn't let him down. His 41 off 29 balls helped MI maintain control of the chase before nerves took over. Suryakumar Yadav's first-ball duck certainly raise some eyebrows, but in the grand scheme of things, it had little impact.
Tim David (13) and Green (17) were on hand to just barely manage to close things off for MI after Rohit Sharma's departure caused chaos. It was a nail-biting conclusion, and while DC will regret their errors, Mumbai will be relieved to finally start.
As they say, a win is a win.
