Hello everyone and thanks for coming to read the summaries of match 24 and 25 of the IPL 2021. Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals were up against each other in the afternoon game at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium where Mumbai won comfortably at the end by 7 wickets. The evening game was between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Narendra Modi stadium where Delhi won the one-sided match by 7 wickets. Let's discuss each match separately.
Mumbai won the toss in the first game and decided to bowl first. Mumbai dropped Ishan Kishan and brought in Nathan Coulter-Nile whereas Rajasthan had an unchanged playing 11 from the previous match. Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal opened the inning for Rajasthan and got their team a good start up-front. Buttler was lucky to be dropped in the early overs but he made use of that opportunity and ended up scoring 41 runs before being dismissed by Rahul Chahar. Jaiswal was the aggressive one in the partnership and he made 32 runs in 20 balls but he too was dismissed by Rahul Chahar. Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube were the next batsmen but Dube struggled to score freely. His 31 balls - 35 runs didn't help the cause of his team any bit and rather undid Samson's quick-fire 27 balls - 42 runs. Rajasthan could put up only 171 runs on the board at the end of the 20 overs and Mumbai needed to score 172 to win the match. The highest wicket-taker for Mumbai was Rahul Chahar who picked up 2 wickets while giving away 33 runs but the most economical was Jasprit Bumrah who gave away just 13 runs in his 4 overs and got the wicket of Dube as well.
Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma opened for Mumbai and Quinton looked in form from the beginning as he started playing his shots early on in the inning. Rohit played a slow inning and was eventually dismissed by Chris Morris and he went back after scoring 14 runs in 17 balls. Suryakumar Yadav was the next batsman and he started his inning like he always does by hitting boundaries at ease. But he too was sent back by Morris and had to return after making 16 runs in 10 balls. The fall of 2 wickets didn't stop Quinton from playing his shots and he was accompanied by Krunal Pandya who too made quick runs. Krunal did get out after scoring 39 runs in 26 balls but that was all too late for Rajasthan by then and Kieron Pollard came and hit the winning runs in the 19th over. Quinton stayed not out for 70 runs in 50 balls and Pollard made 16 runs in 8 balls. Mumbai won the match by 7 wickets with 9 balls remaining and Quinton de Kock was awarded the Man of the Match award for his batting.
It was a welcome win for Mumbai after the previous 2 consecutive losses but they looked a strong side in the game as their whole unit clicked together. Quinton is back in form which is good news for them and Chahar has been consistently among the wickets in the bowling department. Rajasthan would be disappointed with the kind of start they had gotten for the opening wicket. The bowlers couldn't pick wickets consistently either as the match ended up being one-sided at the end. Rajasthan would hope to come back stronger in their next game now.
Moving on to the second game of the day now, Delhi won the toss and decided to bowl first. Both the teams had an unchanged playing 11 in this game. Nitish Rana and Shubhman Gill opened for Kolkata and the two started scoring quick runs in the power play overs. Rana was dismissed by Axar Patel meanwhile for 15 runs which he made in 12 balls. Rahul Tripathi joined Gill next but the duo couldn't keep the run-rate high. Despite scoring 44 runs in the first six overs, Nitish Rana got out after scoring just 19 runs in 17 balls. Gill too got out after scoring 43 runs which he made in 38 balls. Eoin Morgan and Sunil Narine were the next batsmen but both were dismissed for duck and Kolkata was 5 wickets down for 81 runs at that stage. Andre Russell's 27 balls - 45 runs got the final score to 154 eventually which looked difficult at one stage. Delhi needed to make 155 runs to win this match. Lalit Yadav was the pick of the bowlers for Delhi as he gave away just 13 runs in his 3 overs and picked up wickets of Morgan and Narine in the same over.
Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan opened for Delhi and the two got their team off to a flyer. Prithvi hit 6 fours in the first over to get the second inning started and he made his intentions clear. Dhawan played at anchor inning at the other end as Prithvi was showing his class at the other end. Dhawan was dismissed on 46 runs by Pat Cummins eventually but the match had become one-sided at that stage. Cummins got the wickets of Prithvi and Rishabh Pant too at the back end of the inning but the two had done their job. He got out after scoring 82 runs at a strike rate of 200 and Pant scored his 16 runs at the same strike rate. Marus Stoinis hit the winning runs in the 17th over and Delhi won the match comfortably by 7 wickets with 21 balls to spare. Prithvi was awarded the Man of the Match award for his spectacular knock and Delhi moved to the second spot with this win.
It was an impressive overall performance from Delhi as they did well to restrict Kolkata to 154 runs before chasing down the target in the 17th over. Kolkata would be disappointed with their loss as they have lost their 5th match in 7 matches now. Kolkata is a better team on paper but the unit just doesn't click on the field. They would hope to have a better day in their next match.
Up next, we will have Punjab Kings taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 26th match at the Narendra Modi stadium. Bangalore had won their previous match while Punjab had lost theirs. The two sides would battle hard for those two points and the game would certainly be exciting. We'll have to wait to find out which team wins ultimately and we will discuss the match summary in the next article. Until then, stay home and stay safe!
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