Riding on opener Jason Roy’s (91 not out) scintillating knock against three-time champions Mumbai Indians, Delhi Daredevils registered their maiden win in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Wankhede stadium on Saturday. Chasing a mammoth 195-run target, the match went down to the final ball, however, Roy held his nerve to hand his side a thrilling victory.
Here are the few major reasons for the third consecutive loss of Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2018
The Toss
Whenever you toss a coin, there is 50% probability of it landing heads or tails. Today the coin favored Gautam Gambhir, the Daredevils captain. As has every captain in the IPL so far, he chose to field first. That result itself was a big boost for the Delhi team which was looking for its first win.
The trend for this IPL has been to win the toss and field first. Mumbai have batted first all the three times and have all the three matches defending. Bravo’s heroics for CSK, Hooda’s bravery for SRH and Roy’s genius for DD have defeated Mumbai so far. Rohit will want to be chasing side in the next match.
Spin worries
When Mumbai batted first, it demolished the left-arm spin of Shahbaz Nadeem. Nadeem is usually the miser with the ball, he is always very tight with his line and length. Today he was carted for 22 tuns in his two overs.
Mumbai while bowling made the similar mistake. They fed Jason Roy and Rishabh Pant with spin which was thrown out of the stadium. Hero of the first two matches, Markande was hit for 43 in his three overs. While the debutant Dhananjaya was hit for 47 in his 4 overs. Only Krunal Pandya kept the runs down with 21 in his 3 overs with 2 wickets.
Bowling choices
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma looked like he lost the track of his bowling changes today. His first two spinners, Magical Mayank Markande and the debutant spinner Akila Dananjaya gave away 89 runs in their 8 overs. By the time, Rohit brought in Krunal Pandya when DD needed only 61 from 7 overs.
Krunal Pandya was effective from the word Go. He took the wicket of well-settled Rishabh Pant in the first over. In the next over, he got Glenn Maxwell out bringing MI back in the game. He ended up bowling only three overs.
Poor Fielding
Although Mumbai outshined every other team with its ground fielding, it could not stamp its authority in catching. Earlier, Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya took two of the most spectacular catches near the boundary ropes but when it mattered the most Mustafizur Rehman dropped two easy catches which would make Jonty Rhodes cringe.
Mustafizur dropped Shreyas Iyer twice in the 17th over of Jasprit Bumrah. On the first ball of the over, Bumrah bowled a slower one which Iyer edged. The ball fell in front of Mustafizur and he failed to catch it. On the fifth ball, Iyer offered another chance which was easier but Rehman dropped this one too. The catches could have changed the complexion of the game.
