Delhi Capitals (DC) were up against the four-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in their first faceoff of the season and although it was presumed to be a close-knitted contest, the Rohit Sharma-led Men in Blue managed to register a comfortable five-wicket triumph at the end in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. Speaking on the five-wicket defeat, DC skipper Shreyas Iyer said that they lacked some runs on board and Marcus Stoinis’ run-out further affected their cause, considering he was hitting the ball pretty well and had successes in the ongoing edition of IPL.
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The 25-year-old pointed out that there were a few misfields and dropped catches during the gameplay that will have to be worked upon for the coming games.
“Definitely, I would say 10-15 short, 170-175 on the board would have looked completely different. We really missed out when Stoinis got out, he was hitting the ball really well and also seeing the ball like a football, that was the main error that we did and something that we really need to work on. Apart from that the effort put on the field, we could definitely work on that as there were a few misfields and dropped catches as well,” said Shreyas Iyer in the post-match presentation.
Batting first, Delhi Capitals posted 162 runs that comprised an unbeaten half-century from opener Shikhar Dhawan (69*). His partner Prithvi Shaw (4) was dismissed in the first over itself and Ajinkya Rahane, who was playing his first match of the season after being traded to Delhi Capitals, struck 3 boundaries and scored 15 runs off as many deliveries before he was plumbed by slow left-arm Krunal Pandya in the 5th over.
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Dhawan then forged an 85-run stand for the third wicket with Shreyas Iyer (42), who was eventually dismissed by Krunal Pandya when the score read 109/4 in 14.4 overs.
Stoinis was run-out in the third ball of the 17th over after which DC could add just 32 runs to the total, and eventually getting past the 160-run mark.
We need to work on our mindsets before the next game: Shreyas Iyer
Iyer added that the defending champions were clearly better than the Capitals in all areas concerned, but felt if they had managed to get a couple more wickets in the powerplay then they could have been the dominant side in the competition.
Overall, they (Mumbai Indians) outplayed us in all the departments. We need to work on our mindsets before the next game. I thought the spinners were bowling well as the ball was coming onto the bat, it wasn’t stopping as it was in the first innings.
If we could have squeezed in two more wickets after the powerplay we would have been on top. It is really important for us not to take any team lightly and be positive in our approach. There are still certain elements we have to work, and we work and we will use the break to work on that.
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Chasing 163, the Mumbai Indians paced the innings at a normal rate and though they lost skipper Rohit Sharma (5) in the fifth over, Suryakumar Yadav and Quinton de Kock kept the scorecard running for the Men in Blue.
The duo scored half-centuries each, followed by the explosive knock from Ishan Kishan (28, 15b) that helped the defending champions in cutting down the chase.Following Ishan’s departure and almost a run a ball needed, Krunal Pandya and Kieron Pollard finished the innings for Mumbai Indians with 5 wickets in hand.
Rishabh Pant’s injury a concern
Meanwhile, DC’s wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant has been sidelined owing to a hamstring injury sustained in the game against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on October 9.
Aussie cricketer Alex Carey came in as his replacement in the last outing and scored 14 off 9 deliveries while he affected a dismissal when behind the stumps.
In the points table, Delhi Capitals are seated at the second spot with 5 wins in 7 matches, 10 points, and an NRR of +1.038. They will next face Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Wednesday in Dubai.
 skipper Shreyas Iyer pointed out the reason for the 5-wicket loss versus Mumbai Indians (MI) in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.){kind=link}