STATS HIGHLIGHTS
Follow UsWhat a day it has been for the chasing teams, Delhi pulled it off against Mumbai from a dire situation and Punjab, with the batting might, were able to chase 206.
In the first match of the first double header day, Ishan Kishan led Mumbai’s charge with an unbeaten 81 off 48 balls. The skipper of Mumbai, Rohit Sharma as well contributed with a 32-ball 41. Despite other batsmen not reaching 25+, Mumbai posted a total of 177/5, thanks to Kishan’s knock.
In reply, Delhi were in dire situation after they lost their first five wickets within the first 10 overs. At 77/5 at the end of 10, Lalit Yadav and Axar Patel’s partnership of an unbeaten 75 off 30 balls for the seventh wicket witnessed a dream chase for Delhi.
In the second match, Bangalore were up against Punjab with two newly assigned full-time captains. Faf du Plessis in his first match as captain in IPL, made up for his slow start and finished with 88 of 57 balls. Virat Kohli played a handy knock of an unbeaten 41 from 29 balls. Dinesh Karthik’s cameo of 32 at a strike rate of 228.6 helped Bangalore post 205/2.
In reply, none of the Punjab batsmen scored a 50+, but the remaining batsmen apart from Raj Bawa, made handy contributions. However, the finishing touch was laid by Odean Smith who scored 25 of just eight balls and helped Punjab register their first win of the season. Here are a few notable stats from both matches:
Bankable Indian players
In the absence of David Warner, Mitchell Marsh and Anrich Nortje, Delhi in the first match fielded a fairly young and inexperienced playing XI. In their playing XI, Tim Seifert and Rovman Powell were the only two overseas players.
In an IPL match, this is only the second instance of a team fielding only two overseas players. The first one came in 2011, when Kolkata Knight Riders went with only Jacques Kallis and Eoin Morgan against Chennai Super Kings.
Ishan Kishan's impressive start this season
The most expensive player in the auction ahead of this season, Kishan has surely lived up to all the hype and expectations of the fans as he crafted his way to a scintillating half-century in the opening match for Mumbai.
En route to this knock, the 23-year old joined an elite list of players from the Mumbai camp to score three consecutive half-centuries in the tournament. The southpaw followed his 50 and 84 against Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the last two league matches in 2021, with a destructive 81 in this game. Sachin Tendulkar and Quinton de Kock achieved a similar feat of scoring three consecutive fifties in 2010 and 2020, respectively.
Daniel Sams endures a day to forget
One of the six debutants for the boys in Blue and Gold, Daniel Sams, would want to erase the memory of this encounter at the earliest. In his four-over spell, the left-arm seamer conceded 57 runs, including a 24-run over to help the Capitals inch closer to the target.
The 29-year old recorded an unwanted feat as he became the third bowler for Mumbai, with the worst spell in the history of the tournament. Lasitha Malinga's figures of none for 58 against the Punjab Kings in 2017 is the worst, followed by Hardik Pandya's two for 57 against the same opposition in 2019.
Lalit and Axar pull off a miracle
While the top-order of Delhi struggled in the run chase, they found two unlikely heroes that powered them over the line with ten balls to spare as Axar and Lalit displayed an array of strokes all around the ground to enthrall the fans at the stadium.
The duo smashed 75 runs off 30 deliveries to help the team pull off a miracle and record the second-highest partnership for the seventh wicket in a successful run chase. In the Qualifier one of the 2016 season in Bengaluru, AB de Villiers and Iqbal Abdulla forged a scintillating partnership of 91* to get over the line against the Gujarat Lions, which is the highest for the seventh wicket in the IPL.
Rising from the ashes
The odds of a team chasing down a target of 178 after losing half their side within the first 10 overs and less than 75 runs are highly unlikely. But, Delhi achieved the unthinkable.
Two batsmen with inexperience and lesser known for their batting, Lalit and Axar forged an unbeaten 75-run partnership for the seventh wicket and helped Delhi record the highest successful chase for a team when they lost the first five wickets within the first 10 overs in IPL. Previously, Mumbai against Bangalore in 2021 in Bengaluru, had chased 172.
Mumbai’s winless run in the first match continues
The five-time title winners do not have a problem in winning the finals whenever they reach. However, they are not able to break their curse of losing the first match.
The last time Mumbai won their first match in a season of IPL was way back in 2012. Today, at the halfway mark, there were signs of them breaking the jinx. However, Axar and Lait ruined their early party and handed Mumbai a loss in the first match for the 10th consecutive year starting from 2013.
Faf off to a fantabulous start
There have been a lot of changes for the Bangalore based franchise this year. For the first time since 2011, Bangalore were playing without their marquee player AB de Villiers. On the other hand, Virat Kohli was playing just as a player for the first time since 2013.
Faf, who was appointed as the full-time captain, was leading a side for the first time in IPL. In his first match as a captain, he scored a sensational 88. His score was the fourth highest for a captain on debut in IPL. In 2021, Sanju Samson smashed a 119 against Punjab on his captaincy debut, the highest.
A 200+ total without a 50+ score
There are many instances of a team scoring 200+ total without a batsman scoring a 50+ in IPL. In fact, only thrice has there been a score of 200 without one.
Among the three, Punjab’s total of 208 in this innings became the highest for a team in the IPL. Previously, Kolkata against the same franchise in 2019 had scored 206 without a batsman scoring 50+. The other one instance was in 2008, when Mumbai scored 202 against Chennai at Chepauk.
The mighty chasers
Chasing is not a strong suit for few teams, on that chasing 200+ is an added pressure. However, Punjab are one of those teams who love to chase 200+ in IPL.
Including today’s successful chase of 206, this was the fourth time Punjab had chased a target of 200+ in IPL. One against Kolkata in 2010, two times in the year 2014, one against Sunrisers Hyderabad and another against Chennai and today’s was the fourth. This is the most times a team has chased 200+ totals in IPL. Also, the target of 206 is the joint best in the IPL.
