As it happened - Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Capitals, IPL 2021, Sharjah

Jayant Yadav gets rid of Rishabh Pant. The Capitals specialist, brought into this game specifically to take down their left-handers, has come up with the big wicket.

The Capitals captain was looking dangerous. He looked like he didn't feel any of the pressure Mumbai were putting on his team thanks to a wont-say-die bowling performance. He was playing all kinds of shots. Reverse sweeps. Sweeps. Tonks down the ground. Even 10 more minutes of Rishabh Pant coming off could have blown this game wide open. So Mumbai turned to Yadav and he delivered.

Match-up mania

Capitals 30 for 3 in 4.1 overs; Pant 7 off 3, Iyer 0 off 0

On comes Nathan Coulter-Nile. He's dismissed Steven Smith two times in five previous T20s. Mumbai, as we know, are big on match-ups and they see another reason to stick to this approach as Coulter-Nile cracks open Smith's stumps. Bowled around the legs for a mere 9 off 8.

History on Capitals' side but...

Capitals 15 for 2 in 2.4 overs; Shaw 6 off 7, Smith 1 off 2

As expected Jayant Yadav starts things off for Mumbai Indians. He has been picked because Delhi Capitals have four left-handers in the top seven, and one more hiding lower down. It is to exploit this match-up that he always gets picked for this contest. And while he hasn't done the trick himself, it is in his over that IPL 2021's second-highest scorer, Shikhar Dhawan, is run-out. Four balls later, Prithvi Shaw is lbw to Krunal Pandya.

Our stats wiz Sampath Bandarupalli says Capitals have never lost while chasing a target of 130 or lower in the IPL (20-over games). That record might be under threat now. The lowest target they have failed to chase is 134 against Kolkata Knight Riders back in 2008 when Shoaib Akhtar took four-for in the powerplay on his IPL debut.

The ball of the season!

Mumbai 129 for 8 in 20 overs; Suryakumar 33, Avesh 3-15, Axar 3-21

It's a lot of fun being Avesh Khan. Now.

He was barely into his first over and he has Rohit Sharma hopping about. Now in his last over, and the 19th of the innings, he completely nails Hardik Pandya.

This is a yorker. Not just any yorker. It's an inswinging yorker. And so it's a corker. At 141 kph. Hardik is, at first, set up to helicopter the ball away. But it starts moving in the air. Moving scarily. Hardik is not in the right position. He's falling over as the ball keeps surging in.

It slips through the gap between his feet and knocks back leg stump. Incredible bowling from a man who is having a breakout IPL season.

Everything comes up Capitals

Mumbai 87 for 5 in 15 overs; Hardik 2 off 4, Krunal 0 off 5

Mumbai's great strength over the years - their middle order - has broken down this year. They are among the slowest scoring teams between overs 7 and 16 in IPL 2021 and here in Sharjah they're also losing wickets in a bunch. Anrich Nortje, who kickstarted this Capitals' excellent bowling effort along with his new-ball partner Avesh Khan, comes back in the 15th over and with the very first ball he removes Kieron Pollard. Now it's the Pandya brothers together at the crease and so there's no time to relax. But the fact is, the Capitals have exploited a slow pitch to perfection. The Nortje vs Pollard KO happened as a result of a legcutter. A surprise legcutter, especially from a bowler capable of hitting speeds of 150kph. Wicket maiden!

Mumbai in a hole

Mumbai 80 for 4 in 13 overs; Pollard 3 off 5, Hardik 0 off 1

And it's virtually all because of one man - Axar Patel. His performance today has been an example of how a player with complete understanding of his abilities and his limitations can change the whole game. This is after all a simple left-arm spinner. All he does is spin the ball away from the bat. No mystery. And yet... And yet...

Axar has three wickets today. Two of them are of left-handers, and they say you should never bowl a left-arm spinner to a left-hander because the ball ends up in their hitting arc. Axar though has an answer for that. He simply goes round the wicket to angle the ball across the batter and that's how he dismissed Saurabh Tiwary, by keeping the ball out of his reach outside the off stump. It's simple stuff, and when executed right, it's the stuff of genius.

Five bowlers enough?

Mumbai 66 for 2 in 10 overs; Suryakymar 32 off 24, Tiwary 7 off 8

The Capitals came into this game with only five bowling options. They had to be on the mark. They had to pick up that early wicket. It's allowed them to bring their spinners into the game. Axar Patel, having gone through most of last season without ever conceding a six, has looked hard to hit again, especially on this slow Sharjah surface. Here's proof of that from Ask Cricinfo

T20 is an unpredictable format, where even the best bowlers can be taken for tons of runs. The Capitals haven't given themselves a lot of cover outside the five specialists they've picked so they cannot relax. Each and every one of them - Avesh, Nortje, Rabada, Ashwin and Axar - have to produce a complete performance because you know - you absolutely know - Mumbai are setting themselves up for a big last few overs. They're waiting for one of them to have a bad day. That's why Suryakumar and Saurabh Tiwary are happy to knock just the ball around right now. Scratch that, Suryakumar has bunted a full toss from Axar straight down long-on's throat.

Capital work

Mumbai 40 for 3 in seven overs; Tiwary 2* (2), Suryakumar 11* (12)

They gave up only 35 runs in the powerplay, largely thanks to Rohit's wicket, which then brought the out-of-form Suryakumar Yadav to the crease. He's been averaging just 18 this IPL and it's shown in some of the shots he's mistimed already. Anrich Nortje then won a head-to-head battle with de Kock in the last over of the powerplay, giving up just three runs, and more than that, one-upping him with his slower balls. That added pressure onto the South African opener and in the next over, he goes chasing after a wide Axar Patel delivery and loses his wicket.

And in stunning fashion. He's beaten for pace and bounced out. While playing the pull shot! That is rare. That is near-impossibly rare. And therefore it is also very very sweet. Especially for a player like Avesh Khan. Anyone who can hit his speeds immediately gets noticed in India; immediately gets put into pathways that are meant to take him up to national team reckoning. But he's never really gone that far. This IPL, however, he has been awesome. Back in the India leg, he was the reason Anrich Nortje was kept out of the XI. Now in the UAE, he's still maintained his form. A hit-the-deck fast bowler who has worked on his discipline so that every ball of the over is a chore for the batter. Brilliant stuff.

And, in another ode to data, Capitals bring on R Ashwin in the powerplay, a bowler who has excellent stats in the first six overs, and even better ones against Quinton de Kock in particular. I'll let Ask Cricinfo give you a better picture.

There is a sumptuous battle soon to be on show. We'll have Rohit Sharma, one of the very best against very quick bowling, going toe to toe with not one but two fearsome speed demons. Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje had already set the IPL alight with their thundering pace the last time they were here. And while they could yet do so again - defying a Sharjah pitch that has become low and slow and absolutely frustrating - imagine this battle taking place at Jo'burg, where the ball just flies through, or the old WACA ground, where legends were made and then promptly peppered with bouncers.

Rishabh Pant has won it and his Delhi Capitals will bowl. Prithvi Shaw is fit again so he slots in as one half of one of the most prolific opening partnerships this IPL. Mumbai have called up their Delhi expert Jayant Yadav to take over as lead spinner, with Rahul Chahar dropping down to the bench.

Mumbai Indians: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Saurabh Tiwary, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Jayant Yadav, 9 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Trent Boult

Delhi Capitals: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 Rishabh Pant (capt & wk), 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Axar Patel, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Avesh Khan, 11 Anrich Nortje

And it always is one in the IPL. Almost every time there are three or four teams in the running for maybe one, at best, two spots. Now that really should sound daunting. The kind of situation where one mistake somewhere, anywhere, could derail an entire campaign. But to Mumbai Indians, it's like just another Tuesday, even if today is Saturday.

Rohit Sharma's side has made a habit of thriving under playoff-race pressure and here they are once again, needing a win in each of their last three matches. Things might go their way even without, but that's not how champion teams function. Delhi Capitals, meanwhile, have already qualified and are now focused on clinching one of those top two places which would then give them two shots at a place in the final.