<p>Mumbai: Suryakumar Yadav’s resolute 73 not out and late fireworks from Naman Dhir lifted Mumbai Indians to 180/5 on a sluggish surface exploited well by Delhi Capitals spinners Kuldeep Yadav (1/25) and Vipraj Nigam (0/25) in their IPL clash here on Wednesday.</p>.<p>On an uncharacteristic Wankhede Stadium pitch which had plenty of grip and turn for spinners and slow cutters doing the job for fast bowlers, Suryakumar dug in to produce a quality knock for the five-time IPL winners.</p>.<p>Suryakumar struck seven fours and four sixes to make 73 not out off 43 balls while forging two crucial stands which revived a faltering innings.</p>.<p>First, amid a challenging phase of play with DC’s spinners dominating the proceedings, Suryakumar put on 55 runs for the fourth wicket with Tilak Varma and towards the end, found a perfect foil in Dhir (24 off 8 balls, 2x4s, 2x6s) to add another 57 runs from a mere 21 balls.</p>.<p>The tables turned drastically in the last two overs when the Indian T20 skipper Suryakumar and Dhir hit a grand total of five sixes and four boundaries to add 48 runs, shifting the momentum completely in MI’s favour.</p>.<p>However, at one stage it all looked far too difficult for the Mumbai batters who struggled right from the end of the powerplay until the 18th over began.</p>.<p>Rohit Sharma (5) fell to a left-arm pacer for the fourth time this season edging one behind off Mustafizur Rahman ((1/30).</p>.<p>Suryakumar got a lifeline batting on six when a leading edge fell to the left of a diving Mukesh Kumar at short leg off Kuldeep in the seventh over.</p>.<p>But on the next delivery, Ryan Rickelton (25) swept one straight to Madhav Tiwari at deep square leg with which Kuldeep also completed his 100 wickets in IPL.</p>.<p>It was a laborious innings from Tilak who struggled against Kuldeep and failed to cut lose when his side needed him to.</p>.<p>Tilak evidently struggled the most against Kuldeep, failing to even rotate the strike and managing seven runs off 11 balls form the Chinaman bowler.</p>.<p>Tilak’s dismissal -- a mistimed hit to long-on off Mukesh (2/48) -- soon followed Hardik Pandya’s (3) who was done in by a slow leg-cutter from Dushmantha Chameera (1/54) only to get an outside edge which went straight to Mukesh positioned at backward point.</p>.<p>Like Tilak, Suryakumar too had his struggles against the Delhi spinners who found adequate turn to keep the free-flowing batter in check but he capitalised towards the end to produce arguably his finest knock of the season. </p>
<p>Mumbai: Suryakumar Yadav’s resolute 73 not out and late fireworks from Naman Dhir lifted Mumbai Indians to 180/5 on a sluggish surface exploited well by Delhi Capitals spinners Kuldeep Yadav (1/25) and Vipraj Nigam (0/25) in their IPL clash here on Wednesday.</p>.<p>On an uncharacteristic Wankhede Stadium pitch which had plenty of grip and turn for spinners and slow cutters doing the job for fast bowlers, Suryakumar dug in to produce a quality knock for the five-time IPL winners.</p>.<p>Suryakumar struck seven fours and four sixes to make 73 not out off 43 balls while forging two crucial stands which revived a faltering innings.</p>.<p>First, amid a challenging phase of play with DC’s spinners dominating the proceedings, Suryakumar put on 55 runs for the fourth wicket with Tilak Varma and towards the end, found a perfect foil in Dhir (24 off 8 balls, 2x4s, 2x6s) to add another 57 runs from a mere 21 balls.</p>.<p>The tables turned drastically in the last two overs when the Indian T20 skipper Suryakumar and Dhir hit a grand total of five sixes and four boundaries to add 48 runs, shifting the momentum completely in MI’s favour.</p>.<p>However, at one stage it all looked far too difficult for the Mumbai batters who struggled right from the end of the powerplay until the 18th over began.</p>.<p>Rohit Sharma (5) fell to a left-arm pacer for the fourth time this season edging one behind off Mustafizur Rahman ((1/30).</p>.<p>Suryakumar got a lifeline batting on six when a leading edge fell to the left of a diving Mukesh Kumar at short leg off Kuldeep in the seventh over.</p>.<p>But on the next delivery, Ryan Rickelton (25) swept one straight to Madhav Tiwari at deep square leg with which Kuldeep also completed his 100 wickets in IPL.</p>.<p>It was a laborious innings from Tilak who struggled against Kuldeep and failed to cut lose when his side needed him to.</p>.<p>Tilak evidently struggled the most against Kuldeep, failing to even rotate the strike and managing seven runs off 11 balls form the Chinaman bowler.</p>.<p>Tilak’s dismissal -- a mistimed hit to long-on off Mukesh (2/48) -- soon followed Hardik Pandya’s (3) who was done in by a slow leg-cutter from Dushmantha Chameera (1/54) only to get an outside edge which went straight to Mukesh positioned at backward point.</p>.<p>Like Tilak, Suryakumar too had his struggles against the Delhi spinners who found adequate turn to keep the free-flowing batter in check but he capitalised towards the end to produce arguably his finest knock of the season. </p>