A Hit Man and a Thunder Bolt thwart Delhi’s challenge and carry IPL trophy back to Mumbai

By K.R. Nayar 

Can any of the seven teams stop Mumbai Indians from a hat-trick of IPL triumphs in the next edition?

A ‘Hit Man’ and a ‘Thunder Bolt’ thwarted the possibility of the Indian Premier League in UAE producing a new champion. Mumbai Indians skipper and Indian cricket’s Hit Man Rohit Sharma and his pacer Trent Boult, known also as Thunder Bolt, squashed Delhi Capitals' hopes of winning the IPL title in the final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
Through their five-wicket win, Mumbai has emphatically announced that they are unstoppable and now deserve the tag of the best T20 team in the world today. Inflicting a fourth consecutive defeat on Delhi, Mumbai proved that they were far ahead to be stopped. Mumbai Indians now resemble the Australian team that dominated world cricket till a few years ago. When Mumbai received the Fair Play award too, it exemplified the spirit with which they play the game.
Delhi had come into the final like the representative of all other teams to prevent Mumbai from winning the title again. Unfortunately, Delhi’s strength was not enough to dethrone the defending champions. Delhi won the toss, which they wanted to so that they could bat first and post a strong total. But Mumbai’s powerful bowling strength denied them. From the first ball, Mumbai was on the target removing the dangerous Marcus Stoinis. The effect of Trent Boult’s first delivery was akin to deflating Delhi’s grit. It was a lesson for young pacers who we have often seen wasting their first ball, using it as a warm-up delivery.
What followed was an implementation of Mumbai’s usual tactics of going for the kill during the powerplay. Boult’s dismissal of Ajinkya Rahane and off-spinner Jayant Yadav virtually defused the spirit in Delhi, who were left to struggle at 41 for 3 by the end of the powerplay.
But the 96 runs partnership that followed between skipper Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant in the next 11 overs was a brave effort. Both hit half-centuries, but Coulter Nile’s dismissal of the freely stroking Pant when five more overs were remaining pulled Delhi back from getting a total of around 180.
In the last five overs, Delhi could muster just 38 runs, and in the last three overs a mere 22 runs.

A target of 157 wasn’t big enough to put the mighty Mumbai batting under pressure. When Hit Man Rohit Sharma hit 18 runs off Rabada’s first over, whatever hopes Delhi had of striking early too vanished.  Though Stoinis, who was dismissed off the first ball, got the wicket of Quniton De Kock with his first delivery, in-form Suryakumar Yadav prevented any bowler from posing a threat.
The match witnessed one of the most sporting acts when Yadav sacrificed his wicket for Sharma, who raced for a single that wasn’t there.  Yadav exhibited the innate spirit among Mumbai players who have all played for the team and not for their personal glory. The result was that Mumbai became the only other team to win consecutive IPL trophies other than  Chennai Super Kings who won in 2010 and 2011.
Sharma made his 200th IPL appearance a memorable one with a half-century, while pocket dynamo Ishan Kishan refused to be defused and remained unbeaten on 33.  Mumbai has carried the IPL Trophy back to India making fans wonder whether any of the other seven teams will be able to stop them from a hat-trick of IPL triumphs in the next edition. As of now, it seems impossible; but then the future is not for us to tell.