Thanks to a stunning late surge from Suryakumar Yadav and Naman Dhir, supplemented by three-wicket hauls from Mitchell Santner and Jasprit Bumrah, the Mumbai Indians (MI) secured the last open playoff spot for IPL 2025. Delhi Capitals, who were playing under Faf du Plessis, in the absence of Axar Patel, got out of the race to the playoffs.
Though they started the year strong with wins in their first four games, they only managed to record two victories in their next nine. MI encountered a difficult position at 132 for 5, batting first on a Wankhede Stadium pitch favoring spin and with rain approaching. Suryakumar and Dhir, nevertheless, unleashed a barrage of runs, totalling 48 runs in the final two overs to drive their score to 180.
With both Faf du Plessis and KL Rahul fired low, the hunt for DC never picked up steam. As Sameer Rizvi and Ashutosh Sharma accumulated 38 runs, which coincided with the beginning of light rain, a possible comeback seemed to be in the making; however, Santner’s bowling dashed hope.
MI’s innings started with Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton punishing full deliveries with aggression in the first few overs. Mustafizur Rahman’s delivery angled away from Rohit’s bat, creating an edge as he tried a drive.
Introduced in the fourth over, Vipraj Nigam extracted some spin, but Will Jacks hit two boundaries when he bowled short. Jack hit a four and a six in the next over against Mustafizur, but Mukesh Kumar countered by modifying the speed in the sixth over, causing Jack’s dismissal, which Nigam finished with a well-executed catch while jogging back. Mumbai Indians terminated the powerplay at 54 for 2.
The most experienced batsmen for DC, KL Rahul and du Plessis, dispatched the first pitches they faced to the boundary to show their fierce intent. Their bright start was short-lived, though, as du Plessis was caught at long-on off a slower delivery from Deepak Chahar.
