Mumbai continues to flourish for the sixth time in the final, avenues are still open for Delhi

Mumbai Indians bowled out the Delhi Capitals for the first time in the IPL after the formidable half-centuries of in-form batsmen Suryakumar Yadav (51) and Ishaan Kishan (55 not out) and the lethal bowling of Jaspreet Bumrah and Trent Boult after a stormy innings of 37 not out by Hardik Pandya. He qualified for the sixth time in the qualifier for the sixth time on Thursday in a one-sided manner.

Defending champion and four-time winner Mumbai scored a strong 200 for five wickets in 20 overs and restricted Delhi to 143 for eight in 20 overs. Mumbai thus made it to the finals for the sixth time. Mumbai had earlier made it to the finals in 2010, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019. Bumrah took four wickets for 14 runs and Bolt took two wickets for nine runs. Bumrah also brought his number of wickets to 27 this season and broke the Indian record of Bhuvneshwar Kumar taking 26 wickets in a season.

After this defeat for Delhi, the hope of making it to the final for the first time is not over yet. Delhi will take on the winning team of the Eliminator between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the second qualifier to be held on November 8 and the team that wins this match will take on Mumbai in the final on 10 November.

Chasing a mammoth target, the Delhi team lost the match in the first four overs after losing Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan and captain Shreyas Iyer by 20 runs. Marcus Stoynis reduced the margin of Delhi’s defeat by scoring 65 runs. Stoinis was his third half-century this season but he could not stop Mumbai. Mumbai defeated Delhi both times in league matches.

In Mumbai’s innings, Surya hit six fours and two sixes in 51 runs off 38 balls. Kishan hit four fours and three sixes in an unbeaten 55 off 30 balls, while Hardik blew five sixes in an unbeaten 37 off just 14 balls. Hardik and Kishan put on a stormy unbeaten partnership of 60 runs off just 23 balls for the sixth wicket. Opener Quinton de Kock hit five fours and a six in 40 runs off 25 balls.

Delhi won the toss and decided to field first. Delhi got its first breakthrough soon after veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin lambasted Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma. Rohit’s account did not open and Mumbai’s first wicket fell for 16 runs.

Quinton de Kock and Surya played excellent shots after this. Both batted very fast and Mumbai hit 63 runs in the six-over powerplay. Ashwin broke this partnership by dismissing D Cock. D Cock caught by Shikhar Dhawan. De Cock hit five fours and a six in 40 runs off 25 balls.

Surya completed his half-century but soon after that he was caught by Daniel Sames near the boundary line off the ball of Enrich Nortje. Surya hit six fours and two sixes in 51 runs off 38 balls. Kiron Pollard landed on the ground, Ashwin was caught by Kagiso Rabada. Pollard’s account not opened.