Dubai: MI comfortably beat DC by 9 wickets in the 51st match of the IPL 2020 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, here on Saturday.
DC posted a low total 110/9 in 20 overs while MI after losing one wicket easily chased the target in 14.2 overs.
Defending champion MI have 18 points from 13 matches and are sure to stay among top two.
DC from 13 matches lost their sixth game and have 14 points. DC have now lost four matches in a row.
Capitals stand at third spot and will have to wait for playoffs for their match against RCB match on Monday.
The win has ensured the Mumbai a top-two finish in the league stage. On the other hand, the Capitals have now lost four games on the trot, and while they can still finish second on the points table, their net run rate, for now, has slipped below the Kings XI Punjab’s.
How fickle form can be in T20s was evident once again on Saturday. After scoring back-to-back hundreds, Shikhar Dhawan has now two ducks in the two outings since then. He was out for a golden duck against Sunrisers Hyderabad, and here he lasted two balls as he failed to keep down a cut against Boult and Suryakumar Yadav took a low catch at point. It was referred to third umpire and there was no conclusive evidence to overturn the on-field soft signal of out.
Shaw, who replaced Ajinkya Rahane in the playing XI, didn’t last long either as Boult cut short his stay in his next over. Backing away to a short-of-length delivery, Shaw went for a pull only to slice it high to the wicketkeeper’s left.
From the other end, spinners Krunal Pandya and Jayant Yadav hit the hard lengths to keep things quiet as the Capitals finished the powerplay on 22 for 2, the second-lowest powerplay total in IPL 2020.
hreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant tried to stage a recovery but the runs were not coming freely. After the third over, the Capitals hit only one boundary – a six by Iyer off Jayant – till the tenth. They limped to 49 for 2 at the halfway mark of their innings, but the silver lining was the eight wickets in hand.
Rahul Chahar and Bumrah though shattered any hopes of a revival. Chahar lured forward Iyer with a flighted legbreak before beating him with the turn; Quinton de Kock effected the stumping with Iyer’s foot centimetres off the ground.
After that Bumrah breathed fire. He sent back both Marcus Stoinis – a thick outside edge to de Kock – and Pant – lbw from around the wicket – in the same over to leave the Capitals 62 for 5 in the 12th over. Harshal Patel though was unlucky to become Bumrah’s third victim. He was deemed lbw by umpire Paul Reiffel but replays showed the ball hit him high on the back thigh and would have gone over the stumps. The wicket though took Bumrah’s tally for the season to 23, helping him draw level with the purple-cap holder Rabada.
Nathan Coulter-Nile then dismissed Shimron Hetmyer to reduce the Capitals to 78 for 7 before R Ashwin and Rabada dragged the score past 100.
