Shepherd blasts 32 in final over as Mumbai take first IPL win

AFP | Mumbai      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Romario Shepherd smashed 32 runs off the 20th over for Mumbai Indians to set up their first victory of this Indian Premier League season as they beat Delhi Capitals by 29 runs on Sunday.

In the second match of the day, seam bowler Yash Thakur took the first five-wicket haul of the IPL campaign to lead Lucknow Super Giants to a 33-run win over Gujarat Titans on home turf.

In match one, Shepherd crashed a 10-ball 39 in an unbeaten stand of 53 off 13 deliveries with Tim David, who struck 45, to steer Mumbai to 234-5 at their home Wankhede Stadium.

Delhi finished on 205-8, despite Tristan Stubbs' unbeaten 25-ball 71. They slumped to the bottom of the 10-team table.

Five-time IPL winners Mumbai bounced back from losing their first three games to reduce the pressure on skipper Hardik Pandya, who has been booed by fans after replacing Rohit Sharma as captain ahead of this edition.

"I would like to have this feeling more often than not," said Pandya after the victory. "Lot of hard work, hard to clear our minds, and everything clicked."

"There was a lot of love and care going around, everyone knows we lost three games but the belief and backing was there, everyone believes we needed just one win and today was the start," Pandya said.

David smashed a six and four at the end of the 19th over before Shepherd walloped Anrich Nortje for four sixes and two fours in the last over as Mumbai took 42 runs from the final eight balls.

Rohit (49) and Ishan Kishan (42) laid the foundations for the total in an 80-run opening stand before Axar Patel sent the two back in the pavilion with his left-arm spin.

Returning batsman Suryakumar Yadav, who missed the first three losses injured, survived a toe-crushing yorker by Nortje on his first ball but then miscued the next delivery to mid-on for a two-ball duck.

Mumbai lost another wicket before Pandya and David put on 60 to steady the innings  ahead of Shepherd's explosive knock.

- Thakur effect -

In reply, Prithvi Shaw hit 66 after losing opening partner David Warner for 10 off Shepherd's seam bowling.

Shaw and the left-handed Abhishek Porel, who hit 41, put on 88 for the second wicket before Jasprit Bumrah removed both.

South Africa's Stubbs raised a fifty in 19 balls but the asking rate kept climbing and Gerald Coetzee took three wickets in the final over to return figures of 4-34.

In the day's second match in Lucknow, Marcus Stoinis hit 58 to guide Lucknow to a total, which looked below par but the bowlers made sure it was enough.

Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi took a stunning return catch off his own leg-spin to send Gujarat's impact substitute Kane Williamson out for one.

Left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya, elder brother of Mumbai's Hardik, struck three times, including twice in one over when he took the wicket of Sai Sudarshan for 31 to derail the opposition chase.

Thakur, who bowled skipper Shubman Gill for 19 as his first wicket, then sent down a double-wicket maiden to flatten the batting.

He took two more wicket in the 19th over for his first-ever five wicket haul -- 5-30 -- in T20 cricket.

New pace sensation Mayank Yadav picked up an injury after he bowled just one over for 13 runs.