MI vs DC, 34th Match at Delhi, IPL, Apr 18 2019 - Ball by Ball Commentary

11.52pm Terrific win for Mumbai, that takes them to 12 points, and with five matches to go, they should fancy their chances of making the playoffs, and pretty soon from here. Delhi Capitals have had a good season, and will want to remove this particular match as a blip on their radar, especially how they bowled at the death, and their inability to cope with the spinners of Mumbai. Big game again tomorrow night, where Kolkata Knight Riders host Royal Challengers Bangalore. That's that from teh Feroz Shah Kotla for the moment. The report should land any moment now, if it isn't in already. For the moment, good night from Hemant Brar and myself, Debayan Sen

Hardik Pandya is the player of the match: "Even I was telling myself, the way the I am hitting the ball now, I have never hit it as well. All the work in the nets is paying off. (Stance) I like to keep the basics straight. Even at the death, if you keep your shape and expect the bowler to hit, you can hit the ball. I think I am just using my brain pretty well. Understanding the wicket, and expecting where the ball will come. I have five more games to go and then the playoffs, and I just hope to continue."

Rohit Sharma: "After the first two overs, we thought 140 was a good score. That's the chat Quinny and I had, and then luckily for us, we had wickets in hand, and we could use our power-hitters to get some runs in the last few overs. We knew we had quality in our spinners, and they executed it perfectly. (the toss) We made our mind up, because I have played here enough, even the recent ODI against Australia. We thought even if we can get 140-150, it would be enough with the bowlers we have. (On Chahar) It's something that he's been working on. He was part of the team last year, but never got to play. At some stage we wanted to get him in. He's shown the right kind of attitude, and he's very smart in terms of what he wants to execute. Those breakthroughs were good. He's very confident bowling to left-handers too. If you show confidence in him as captain, he will deliver. Jayant was a simple swap, because they had 3-4 left-handers in the top six. Cutting as well, once the ball is nice and hard, we would use a power hitter to come and exploit their spinners. The idea to send him at 3 was a good one. But the game plan changes according to the venue and the opposition. The top 3 remains, but 4, 5 and 6 remains flexible."

Ritesh : "I wish Mumbai win next 2 matches also so they can rest Bumrah for remaining matches. "

Sunil: "For KKR to make it to the playoffs, they must get rid of their Captain- the man without any brains and likely to lead them to disasters year after year! " --- Gets a chance to redeem himself tomorrow, against the Indian national team captain. Should be a great match

Quinton de Kock: "After the first over, we knew it was slow and sticky. We just needed to rotate the strike, and to keep some wickets in hand for the end. It was not really a wicket where you can walk in and play shots from ball one. I think we are slowly but surely starting to find some rhythm. We are getting to know what our strengths are as a team. (how to keep wicket) Horrible [laughs]. Just something that we are not used to."

Shreyas Iyer: "It's really important for us to win home games, especially on these tracks. Unfortunately we lost the toss, and we got outplayed in all three departments. We practise on the pitches that are also slow. But when you come here, it's totally different. We have to get used to these conditions. We would have chased (had we won the toss), we gave 20 runs more on this wicket. The wicket was really slow, and 140 would have been a manageable score. It wasn't easy to bat on the pitch, the ball was stopping. Those three overs (that cost 50 runs) were the gamechanger."

11.28pmThat's that - a 40-run win in the end for Mumbai Indians. How crucial were those 50 runs in the last three overs in setting this victory up? Hardik Pandya must surely take a lot of credit, but a good hand from Krunal Pandya as well. Excellent bowling in response, especially from young Rahul Chahar, and then Lasith Malinga and Jasprit Bumrah just slammed the door shut on the home side

Preshit: "After 2013 2015 and 2017, MI is bound to win it again in 2019!"

Vishwajit Patil: "@vivek.. scientific calculator?? I used to sit with a ventilator. Still MIPaltanforever :D"

vivek: "This is such a new region/zone for MI fans. Halfway through the IPL and we are placed comfortably to make it to the playoffs. Otherwise, at this stage all MI fans are usually sitting with scientific calculators trying to figure things out."

Aditya Agrawal: "12 runs off last over for Mumbai to win by 37 runs. I am still betting on it." --- Or they get bowled out in the next ball?

Sinosh: "@Shey, How is that worked for mumbai today? Spinners have been very much economical in this pitch, where malinga gave away 36 runs. Krunal could have saved at least 5-6 runs if he had bowled before 16th over"

Hardik with the final over

Lohith: "Looking at the way this game as gone, brilliant call from Rohit to bat first. Home captain was surprised by Rohit's decision, but it proves to be a great call. "

Ashish: "Iyer has not made too many friends..Mishra, Ishant were not used in couple of matches till 13th over.. pant is wasted down the order..he clearly doesn't have too much confidence in Indian players.. I am sure players can feel that.."

Adhish kuinkel: "I am from japan. I love cricket and watch every game of ipl. Why dc is without sandy!! Just for 1 game which he hadn't done well. Noone can do best in every game like rabada and morris this game. So think well dc mgmt. "

Omkar: "I think it's brilliant batting from Hardik and some not so effective death bowling from Rabada and co. Consider score of 130 here and DC would be easily taking this home. Those 30 extra runs have made all the difference. "

Shey: "@Sinosh I think Rohit doing the right thing by bringing his prime attacking bowlers for a spell.. Chances of Delhi winning this is minimum so they need to try win as big as possible to improve their runrate which will be important to get into the direct qualifier..."

Shekhar Bandaru: "In this age of mankading, what was Paul trying to do? Was he kidding? "

Anand Meenakshi: "In Gully cricket its team hatrick!!!!"

Tushar: "Looking at Delhi team, it looks so promising although when it comes with these kind of performances suddenly it looks weakest batting line up. What they lack is X factor/surprise/innovation. They need to try Keemo at 1 down and get Sharfane or Jalaj Saxena as finisher. Do something which opposition has not thought of. Right now its all about getting past Pant and register a win."

Sven : "I think Eoin Morgan would be a good fit as captain of Delhi for next year. He's one of, if not, the best captain in limited overs cricket. "