DC vs MI, 3rd Match at Mumbai, IPL, Mar 24 2019 - Ball by Ball Commentary

12.15pm So a big win for the Delhi Capitals in their first match in that avatar. They look to have assembled a pretty good squad, and as long as Rishabh Pant fires like he did today, there's not too much they'll have to worry about. Early days still, so much more to come. Do join us tomorrow for Rajasthan Royals against Kings XI Punjab. Until then, it's good night from Thilak, Saurabh and me.

Rishabh Pant: "It's been a great journey, I'm trying to learn every day of my cricketing career. It feels good when your team wins. I always play according to the situation most of the time. This time I needed to increase the run rate for the team, and I took my chances, and it came off today. Especially in T20, you have to do something different. When the bowler cramps you for room, you need to make your own room."

Shreyas Iyer: "To be honest, I was really well prepared to take on the captaincy. I've been leading India A as well as my domestic side. It's been a great experience so far, we've been bonding and training really well. [Pant] is a really destructive batsman. Over the years I've seen him maturing a lot. He faced a few dot balls early on and then suddenly his strike rate was 250. Amazing batsman, great to have him on our team."

They haven't announced it yet, and they're announcing a bunch of other awards, but Rishabh Pant is the Player of the Match, surely.

Ishant Sharma: "I was feeling a little nervous, actually, while watching the ball fly around while Rishabh batted. But I backed myself, I've been doing very well in Test cricket recently. I think everyone is gelling together and having fun, it doesn't matter what the result is. That's the right attitude to have. Winning the first match against Mumbai is a big boost for us. We have a new team, with new coaching staff and everything."

Rohit Sharma: "First game is always a bit of a challenge for most of the teams. Lot of new players in the squad as well. We made a lot of mistakes today, as simple as that. We were pretty much in the game in the first 10 overs when we were bowling, but the way Rishabh batted, you've got to give him credit. We didn't execute our plans well with the ball, but having said that, we're all professional cricketers, and we have to learn from our mistakes and come back positively next time. We had six options. We didn't have another spinner because we thought the pitch would do something initially, and they had a few left-handers so we didn't pick the legspinner. I wasn't convinced he would bowl four overs. That was my thinking. The combination might change for the next game. We want to see what combination the opposition plays and then decide. The ball was still coming on well when we batted. We ended up getting 180, still. Nobody went on to get a big score. Yuvi batted brilliantly, and there were a few cameos. If one of the top three or four had scored 70-80, things would have been different."

Harsh: "@Arijit Ballooning the ball up 5 times is shaky. The only good thing was he had luck on his side where the ball landed in no man's land every single time"

Vijay: "Good IPL so far for Tamil cricket fans! CSK winning, DK winning as captain, and now Shreyas Iyer winning as captain. Hopefully Ravi Ashwin can keep it going next match :)" -- And you've had the opportunity to read my commentary as well.

Arijit : "@Harsh Yuvraj's inning was not at all shaky. Coincidentally most of the DC bowers executed their plans well against him while giving free full tosses to Krunal and Pollard. Hopefully Yuvraj will be able to use this knock as platform and perform consistently."

Soumith Potturi: "Yuvi was able to only hit the spinners/medium pacers, his reflexes are quite slow now to face Boult/Rabada's darts. Same case with Yusuf Pathan earlier today. Not sure, if you Yuvi can go on for quite longer."

11.50pm And that's that. Jasprit Bumrah is nursing an injury, and he's not going to come out to bat. Delhi begin life as the Capitals with an impressive 37-run win. Eyebrows went up when they named an XI with six bowlers and Keemo Paul batting at No. 6, but everything fell into place thanks to a breakthaking unbeaten 78, off 27 balls, from Rishabh Pant. Mumbai and Delhi started this match with the joint-worst record (4 wins in 11 matches each) in IPL season-openers. Now Mumbai have sole ownership of the title of the IPL's worst starters. We're only one game into this season, of course.

38 off six. Two wides/no-balls, six sixes? Tewatia to bowl the last over, from round the wicket.

Harsh: "Was this shaky 53 good enough to keep ishan kishan out for the next few games?"

Rasikh Salam walks in on IPL debut.

One of Yuvraj's most famous innings in any format was a half-century off 12 balls. Mumbai need 46 off 12 balls now. Rabada steams in from round the wicket.

Boult.

Stays round the wicket to McClenaghan.

Back round the wicket to Yuvraj.

Stays over the wicket to the left-handed Mitchell McClenaghan.