Mumbai: Rishabh Pant's blazing half-century guided Delhi Capitals to a 37-run win over Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League opener here Sunday.
A rebranded Delhi team showed its effort in every department of the game as firstly it rode Rishabh Pant's blistering knock to post a massive total of 213 runs before their bowlers also rose to the occasion to bowl out the three-time champions for 176 in 19.2 overs.
Chasing the huge 214-run target, Mumbai had a slow but steady start as they put up 28 runs in three overs without losing a wicket. However, Delhi's Ishant Sharma dealt the first blow as he dismissed Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma (14) in the fourth over.
Incoming batsman Suryakumar Yadav (2) also departed soon while Ishant struck again to send back the dangerous Quinton de Kock (27).
Yuvraj and Keiron Pollard (21 off 13) then showed some fight as they added 50 runs for the fourth wicket to help Mumbai approach the three digit mark. However, Keemo Paul removed Pollard to land the hosts in deep trouble as their scorecard read 95/4 in the 11th over.
Hardik Pandya added more worries to the Mumbai camp as he departed without scoring off a Axar Patel delivery. Krunal (32 off 15) then played some good shots along with Yuvraj but couldn't stay in the middle for long as Trent Boult applied the breaks on his innings with the Mumbai scorecard reading 134/6.
Yuvraj tried his best to overhaul the target with some lusty blows but wickets falling at the other end hurt Mumbai's chances.
For Delhi, Kagiso Rabada and Ishant picked up two wickets each while Rahul Tewatia, Paul and Axar bagged one wicket apiece.
Earlier, Rishabh Pant's blistering knock helped Delhi Capitals post a massive 213/6.
As soon as Pant arrived in the middle, the young stumper took every bowler to the cleaners to blast an unbeaten 78 off just 27 deliveries with the help of seven boundaries and as many hits into the stands.
Apart from Pant, opener Shikhar Dhawan (43 off 36) and Colin Ingram (47 off 32) also made valuable contributions.
Put into bat, Delhi were off to a poor start as they lost opener Prithvi Shaw (7) and skipper Shreyas Iyer (16) with just 29 runs on board. Mumbai pacer Mitchell McClenaghan accounted for both the wickets.
Dhawan and Ingram then stabilised Delhi's innings with a crucial 83-run partnership for the third wicket before Ben Cutting sent the latter to the hut in the 13th over.
With Delhi's scorecard reading 112/3, it seemed the visitors will hardly cross the 150-run mark. But Pant's arrival changed the whole scenario as he started smashing every Mumbai bowler.
Delhi lost Dhawan, Paul (3) and Axar (4) in quick intervals, but Pant kept one end intact and guided his team to a huge total.
For Mumbai, McClenaghan was the pick of bowlers with figures of 3/40, while Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Ben Cutting picked up a wicket each.
