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Images from Thursday's IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals, in Dubai.
Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult fired Mumbai Indians into the final of the Indian Premier League in Dubai on Thursday. The pace aces took six of the eight wickets to fall as the defending champions beat Delhi Capitals by 57 runs.
Boult, who finished with figures of 2 for 9, including a maiden from his two overs, kicked off Delhi’s demolition by dismissing Prithivi Shaw (0) and Ajinkya Rahane (0) in the first over, before Bumrah took over, dismissing Shikhar Dhawan (0), Shreyas Iyer (12), Marcus Stoinis (65) and Daniel Sams (0) for figures of 4 for 14 from four overs, including a maiden.
Had Stoinis and Axar Patel (42) not put up a gutsy fight, Delhi Capitals wouldn't have finished with 143-8 or even lasted the 20 overs.
Surya Kumar Yadav (51 off 38 balls) had earlier laid the platform on which Ishan Kishan (55 not out) and Hardik Pandya (37 no off 14 balls) built to take Mumbai Indians to 200 for 5.
This is the sixth time that the Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians has made it to the final.
The pressure of scoreboard was writ large on a wobbly Capitals top-order as Boult and Bumrah produced a 'Test match opening spell".
Delhi, however, have a second shot at glory when they meet the winner of Friday's Eliminator between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday in the second qualifier.
All went wrong for Delhi once Boult struck in the first over.
Prithvi Shaw (0) set himself up for an in-swinger, which never came, and edged a Boult delivery that was delivered with angled seam.
Ajinkya Rahane (0) expected an out-swinger but got a ‘Boult special’ in-dipper that had him plumb in front of the wickets.
The in-form Shikhar Dhawan (0) got a toe-crusher, before he could settle down, from Bumrah and found his furniture all messed up.
With the scoreboard reading 0 for 3 after just eight deliveries, the match was as good as over.
Shreyas Iyer was snapped at cover off Bumrah and Rishabh Pant, as usual, slog-swept a ball from Krunal Pandya on the imaginary fifth off-stump and was caught in the deep as half of the Delhi Capitals side was back in the dug-out for 41.
A stubborn fightback by Stoinis and Axar only delayed the inevitable.
The Australian all-rounder hit three sixes and six fours in his 46-ball 65, while Axar hit three sixes and two fours in his 42 off 33 balls which saved Delhi from an embarrassing defeat.
Earlier, Suryakumar Yadav hit a near-flawless half-century and Hardik Pandya blazed away in the death-overs as Mumbai Indians put up an above-par 200 for 5.
Suryakumar smashed his way to a 51 off 38 balls to lay the foundation for Hardik’s brutal assault of five sixes in his 14-ball-37 in the final overs.
In between, Ishan Kishan was played the ideal anchor with a priceless 55 off 30 balls, adding 60 for the sixth wicket with Hardik in only 3.5 overs.
While Ravichandran Ashwin’s (3 for 29 in 4 overs) wily spin had the defending champions guessing, Shreyas Iyer's captaincy left a lot to be desired, his negative tactics as far as his pace department was concerned enabling Mumbai Indians off the hook .
Starting with left-arm seam of Daniel Sams (0/44 in 4 overs) badly backfired; even worse was Kagiso Rabada (0/42 in 4 overs) and Anrich Nortje (1/50 in 4 overs) who also had a forgettable day.
In all, Mumbai Indians hit 15 fours and 12 sixes, a testimony to the number of bad balls bowled by the Capitals attack, especially their speed merchants, who were bowling short of length consistently.
At the start, Rohit Sharma’s (0) dodgy hamstring did play its part as Ashwin bowled an off-break and the Mumbai Indians captain did not move his front foot enough to cover the spin and was adjudged leg before.
De Kock and Suryakumar, however, continued in full flow as the boundaries and sixes flowed from their blades during the 62-run stand in only 6.1 overs.
While De Kock was severe on anything bowled short or on his legs, Surya's flowing drives off spin and pace were a treat for the eyes.
However, Ashwin's sharp cricketing acumen came to the fore as he dismissed De Kock by simply shortening the length by a yard or two and the left-hander mistimed the ball and was caught by Shikhar Dhawan in the deep.
The veteran off-spinner once again won his battle of wits against Kieron Pollard by simply taking the pace off a flighted delivery which Kagiso Rabada smartly snapped up after sprinting some distance.