When the decision to switch to the Indian Premier League ( IPL) in the United Arab Emirates was made, the majority of pre-tournament predictions favoured teams with better spin bowlers to retain control.
But, they’re the pace firepower teams that set the stage. With 12 and seven wickets respectively, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje are leading the Delhi Capitals charge.
Matching them well are Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, and James Pattinson’s Mumbai Indian pair. With Rabada and Boult leading the count, all five are within the top seven on the wicket-takers’ list.
It’s no surprise that at the head of the table are Delhi and Mumbai. On Tuesday night at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the Mumbai Indian trio put on a further brilliant pace bowling showcase to overpower Rajasthan Royals on the way to a 57-run victory.
The Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma unleashed all three in the powerplay overs after his batsmen put on 194/4. RR had been reduced to 31 for three out of the match by the end of the first six overs.
Boult was the star performer again, as in their win over Sunrisers Hyderabad. On the second ball of the match, he set the stage with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal’s opener, taking him to the edge with a moving ball outside the off-stump.
With another clever execution of targeting the vulnerability of the batsman, the short ball, Boult followed that up by scalping dangerman Sanju Samson.
By having Steve Smith’s wicket in the second over, Bumrah placed pressure from the other end. In the first five overs, Boult and Bumrah choked the RR’s top order, and Pattinson ensured that in the final over there was no respite until the field limitations ended.
The three played one better than the last game in which six wickets were shared between them. They shared eight with Bumrah selecting four wickets here, and two each with Boult and Pattinson.
One of the teams that had a great record against Mumbai was Rajasthan, having beaten them in their last four encounters. There was a fractured hold on Tuesday.
Their batsmen failed to learn from the errors they made. Smith was out due to inside edging a wild heave off Bumrah; he was out playing a similar shot at Kolkata Knight Riders’ Pat Cummins.
Dismissed in the previous match by a short ball, Samson fell again with the same shot. Mumbai Indians had earlier been well served by Suryakumar Yadav. Coming to bat at No. 3, when Sharma had given a good start with 35 runs off 23 balls, the Mumbai batsman scored 79 off 47 balls. With a 30 off 19 balls, Hardik Pandya ensured a good finish.
