Capitals gain after Rizvi impact sinks Mumbai

NEW DELHI: Sameer Rizvi dazzled in the impact player’s role again as he hammered 90 off 51 balls to secure Delhi ​Capitals a six-wicket victory over the Mumbai Indians in the ‌Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday.

Electing to field, Delhi restricted Mumbai to 162-6 on a slow track at the Arun Jaitley Stadium where timing was tricky and stroke-making risky.

Standing ​in for the ailing skipper Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav top-scored with ​51 and Rohit Sharma made 35, but only four sixes ⁠in an entire Mumbai innings underscored how hard it was to ​clear the ropes.

Rizvi mastered those conditions to smash his second successive half-century as ​Delhi romped home with 11 balls to spare.

Rizvi smacked seven sixes and as many fours in his 51-ball blitz which consigned Mumbai to their first defeat of the season.

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Delhi ​top the standings level on four points with Punjab Kings but ​ahead on net run-rate.

Mukesh struck twice in the third over, removing Ryan Rickelton and Tilak ‌Varma ⁠to reduce Mumbai to 18-2.

Mumbai crawled to 41-2 after the first six powerplay overs in a testimony to Delhi’s tight fielding and discipline with lengths.

Relief came in the seventh over when Rohit smacked the first six of ​the match to ​also raise Mumbai’s ⁠fifty. Axar Patel, however, removed Rohit just when the opener was threatening to break the shackles.

Kuldeep Yadav conceded ​17 runs in the 15th over but the surge was ​checked ⁠almost immediately, when Suryakumar was trapped lbw by Lungi Ngidi.

Delhi’s 42-2 in the powerplay mirrored Mumbai’s sluggish start before opener Pathum Nissanka (44) counter-attacked.

Mitchell Santner removed Nissanka, ⁠but ​Rizvi went after the change bowlers, milking 20 ​off a Corbin Bosch over and cracking Mayank Markande for back-to-back sixes to put Delhi ​firmly in control.