IPL 2020 Qualifier 1: Dominant Mumbai Indians thrash Delhi Capitals by 57 runs to reach final

Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan hammered a half-century each before Jasprit Bumrah shone with the ball to help defending champions Mumbai Indians clinch a comfortable 57-run victory over Delhi Capitals and storm into the final of the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Dubai International Stadium on Thursday.

Shreyas Iyer-led Delhi Capitals won the toss and asked the Mumbai franchise to bat first.

Mumbai Indians lost skipper Rohit Sharma for a duck after he was caught leg before wicket off a Ravichandran Ashwin delivery in the second over.

Suryakumar Yadav and Quinton de Kock then joined forces and the duo stitched a crucial partnership of 62 runs for the second wicket before the latter was caught at long-off of an Ashwin delivery in the eighth over.

Soon after bringing up his half-century off 36 deliveries, Suryakumar was taken by Daniel Sams at long leg on the fifth ball of 12th over by Anrich Nortje. 

Subsequently, Ishan Kishan brought up an unbeaten knock of 55 runs off 30 balls besides sharing a 60-run stand with Hardik Pandya (37 not out) to help Mumbai Indians post a mammoth total of 200 for five.

For Delhi Capitals, Ravichandran Ashwin finished with the figures of three for 29. Marcus Stoinis and Anrich Nortje chipped in with a wicket each.

In reply, Mumbai Indians made a superb start to their defence by reducing Delhi Capitals to 0/3 inside two overs. 

While Prithvi Shaw fell for a duck after being caught behind the wicket by Quinton de Kock on the second delivery of the first over by Trent Boult, Ajinkya Rahane too departed without scoring any run after being trapped leg before wicket on the fifth ball. 

Opener Shikhar Dhawan too fell for a nought after getting clean bowled by Jasprit Bumrah in the second over before the Mumbai Indians bowler also dismissed Delhi Capitals skipper Shreyas Iyer cheaply for 12 runs.

Marcus Stoinis (65) then staged a fightback for Delhi as he not only score a half-century but also brought up a crucial 71-run stand with Axar Patel (42) for the sixth wicket to help his side cross the 100-run mark.

After the two batsmen’s dismissal, Delhi Capitals failed to add much runs to their scoreboard and were restricted to the score of 143 for eight in their stipulated 20 overs.

Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers for Mumbai with brilliant figures of four for 14. Trent Boult bagged two wickets in his two overs before he was forced to walk off the field with groin strain, while Krunal Pandya and Kieron Pollard claimed a wicket each.

The Delhi Capitals will get another chance to make it to the summit showdown via Qualifier 2 – where they await the winner of the Eliminator 1 (to be played between Sunrisers Hyderabad and RCB).