Mumbai Indians (MI) leg spinner Karn Sharma, who played a huge role in his side’s 12-run win on Sunday, feels that Karun Nair’s wicket broke the Delhi Capitals’ (DC) momentum. Batting first, MI set a target of 206, but DC seemed to be reaching the target easily. They were 113 for 1 after ten overs but faced a shocking collapse in between.

“At that time, the situation was like they were going 10-11 runs per over,” Karn said after the game. “So my role was just to take wickets in the middle overs, and the way they were batting, every wicket was important. Obviously, KL Rahul is a big name and he had finished the game for them in the last match. But all the wickets were important for us at that time. After Karun got out, their momentum broke. And after that, we got two-three wickets quickly. That changed the game.”

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“I have played a lot in Delhi, so I know how the ball will behave on this wicket,” Karn said. “But we didn’t expect dew because there was no dew in the first innings. When you get the ball replaced, the new ball has an upright seam, so it gives you purchase from the wicket. That helped us.”

Karn Sharma, who was playing his first game of the season, had come in as an Impact Player during the second innings as well. Left-arm seamer Ashwani Kumar was another option for MI, but Piyush Chawla, former India leg spinner, felt that MI went with Karn after seeing DC spinners getting help from the pitch as well.

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“They [MI] were waiting because they must be thinking whether to go with Ashwani or with Karn,” Chawla said on ESPNcricinfo TimeOut. “But I am sure they must have made up their mind looking at the first innings, the way Kuldeep [Yadav] and Vipraj [Nigam] bowled. You have to give a lot of credit to Karn because it’s not easy when you come to a team after six-seven [five] games and then all of a sudden you get a chance in this kind of situation where the other team is going berserk,” Karn Sharma concluded.