Shepherd leads way

Mumbai, April 7

Romario Shepherd’s 10-ball 39 not out outmuscled Tristan Stubb’s courageous 71 as Mumbai Indians ended their three-match losing streak in the Indian Premier League with a 29-run win against Delhi Capitals here today.

Conceding as many as 51 runs in the last two overs proved catastrophic for Delhi Capitals, whose bowlers remained wayward and batters lacked the spunk in the initial overs to go after the MI bowlers, even though Stubbs went ballistic to make 25-ball 71 not out.

The right-handed Stubbs smacked as many as seven sixes and three fours but his effort could only reduce the margin of defeat for Delhi, who lost a flurry of wickets towards the end to finish at 205/8 in reply to Mumbai Indians’ 234/5.

While Mumbai Indians managed to open their account in the points table after three losses upfront, the win also helped them leapfrog both Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Delhi Capitals to jump to the seventh spot. A fourth loss in five matches resulted in Delhi slipping down to the bottom.

Shepherd hurt Delhi Capitals the most, clobbering four sixes and two fours off Anrich Nortje’s 20th over to collect 32 runs. Nortje’s final figures read a sorry 2/65 in 4 overs. Shepherd returned with the ball to get the prized scalp of David Warner (10).

Shepherd was the last to join the party after each of Rohit Sharma (49 off 27 balls), Ishan Kishan (42 off 23 balls), Hardik Pandya (39 off 30) and Tim David (45 not out off 21 balls) also made merry in batting-friendly conditions at the Wankhede Stadium.

It was, however, a forgettable outing for Suryakumar Yadav, who perished for two-ball duck in his first game since December.

“It was a lot of hard work. We had to clear our minds and make sure that we believed,” said skipper Hardik as his team played the first game after six-day break. “That was some hitting,” he said about Shepherd’s knock.

Brief scores: Mumbai Indians: 234/5 (Rohit 49, David 45*, Shepherd 39*; Axar 2/35); Delhi Capitals: 205/8 (Stubbs 71*, Shaw 66; Coetzee 4/34). — PTI

Stoinis, Thakur help LSG to 33-run win

Lucknow: Lucknow Super Giants were clinical while registering a 33-run win over Gujarat Titans in their IPL match. The Gujarat side could not mount a strong chase of 164 and ended at 130 all out as LSG pacer Yash Thakur (5/30) and spinner Krunal Pandya (3/11) came up with impact efforts. For GT, only opener B Sai Sudharsan (31 off 23 balls) could offer some resistance. Earlier, Marcus Stoinis (58 off 43 balls) made a fine fifty as LSG made 163/5. Other contributions came from skipper KL Rahul (33 off 31 balls) and Nicholas Pooran (32 off 22 balls). For GT, pacers Umesh Yadav and Darshan Nalkande took two wickets apiece.

Brief scores: Lucknow Super Giants: 163/5 (Stoinis 58, Rahul 33; Yadav 2/22, Nalkande 2/21); Gujarat Titans: 130 all out in 18.5 overs (Sudharsan 31; Thakur 5/30, Pandya 3/11)

Pace sensation Mayank suffers side strain

Mayank Yadav suffered a side strain and left the field after bowling just one over for Lucknow Super Giants. Later, Krunal Pandya said the 21-year-old seemed alright after coming off the field. “He seemed okay, which is a positive,” he said.