Marcus Stoinis produced almost single-handed resistance to bail out Delhi Capitals but his big hitting couldn’t stop Mumbai Indians reaching the IPL final.
Stoinis smashed a defiant 65 but it couldn’t stop his Delhi Capitals side being steamrollered by defending champions Mumbai Indians.
Mumbai moved closer to a fifth IPL title with their 57-run victory thanks largely to breezy fifties from Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, late power hitting from Hardik Pandya and then brilliant fast bowling from Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah.
Mumbai raced to a daunting total of 5-200 before New Zealander Boult and Indian Test quick Bumrah then triggered a spectacular top-order collapse from which Delhi, who managed 8-143, never really recovered.
The only real resistance came from the West Australian Stoinis, who hammered his 65 off 46 balls with three sixes and six fours before being bowled by Bumrah.
Delhi still have a chance, next meeting the winners of Friday’s eliminator – between Royal Challengers Bangalore and 2016 champions Sunrisers Hyderabad – in a playoff to decide the second finalist.
Put into bat, Mumbai suffered an early jolt when skipper Rohit Sharma was dismissed for a duck by Ravichandran Ashwin (3-29).
Quinton de Kock made a rapid 40 before falling to the off-spinner who also removed the dangerous Kieron Pollard for a duck.
In-form Yadav’s fluent 51 steadied Mumbai before Pandya combined with Kishan, who made 55 not out, to launch a blistering counter-attack.
Pandya, who hit 37 not out, smacked five sixes in his 14-ball blitz as he and Kishan plundered 55 runs in the last three overs.
The Mumbai fast bowlers then took over, effectively derailing Delhi’s chase with the first eight deliveries of their innings.
Boult struck twice in the first over – dismissing Prithvi Shaw and Ajinkya Rahane – before Bumrah bowled Shikhar Dhawan to reduce Delhi to 0-3.
Bumrah (4-14) later returned to send down a maiden two-wicket over which effectively sealed the contest for Mumbai.
© AAP
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