Delhi register first win after opener scores unbeaten 91 to hand defending champs their third consecutive loss
Jubilant Jason Roy (left) celebrates Delhi win with teammate Shreyas Iyer as Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma looks on at the Wankhede on Saturday. Pic/Suresh Karkera
Mumbai made it a hat-trick of losses in T20-11 after Jason Roy's belligerent 91 off 53 balls led Delhi to a thrilling seven-wicket win in yet another last-ball finish that failed to go the defending champions' way at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
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It's disappointing: Surya
The visitors picked up their first win of the season after being in the same situation as their opponents. "It is a little disappointing that we have not got even one win. But we know that it has happened in the past. It's a long tournament. We just need one game and then the momentum will be built from there," Mumbai's Suryakumar Yadav (53), who was involved in a 102-run opening stand with Evin Lewis (48), said. Sure, history is on Mumbai's side as far as dismal starts in the T20 go. In 2015, Mumbai lost their first four opening games and went on to win the tournament, but that doesn't take away the fact that Rohit Sharma and Co need to regroup and ensure they don't leave it to the last ball as it were. "We are not consistent in terms of how we want to take the innings through and are not able to finish off games. We'll learn from this and come back," Rohit said.
Put into bat, Mumbai sprung a surprise when Yadav, instead of regular opener Rohit, opened the innings with Lewis. With the start Mumbai got, the home side could have easily set a 200-plus target. But after losing both openers in quick succession, Mumbai slumped from 109-2 in 10.2 overs to 185-6 in the 19th. The hosts finished at 194-7.
Coasting to victory, the visitors almost made a mess of the chase, courtesy some good slower balls from Jasprit Bumrah in the 19th over that went for just five runs. Mustafizur Rahman was handed the ball for the last over when Delhi required 11 off six.
Last-ball thriller
Roy smashed the first one to the boundary and the second sailed over fine-leg boundary line. However, the next three balls yielded no runs, bringing the equation to one off one. "I just told Jason to hold your position, you are hitting the ball really well, so don't try to be cheeky. You can easily clear the boundary," Shreyas Iyer (27*), who partnered Roy in an unbeaten 60-run stand for the fourth wicket, elaborated on the chat he had with the Englishman before the last ball. Iyer's words helped as Roy, although unable to hit a boundary, was able to take a single.
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