Images from the IPL 2025 match between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capital in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Suryakumar Yadav's doughty 73 not out proved to be the difference as Mumbai Indians sealed the fourth and final play-off berth with a 59-run trouncing of Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2025 match in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Suryakumar's masterclass -- a 43-ball knock with seven fours and half a dozen sixes in adverse situation -- paved the way for a dominating win. The five-time IPL champions had not made the play-offs last year.
Delhi Capitals, who came into this contest with their fair share of opportunity to reach the final four, saw the tables being turned on them when MI batters collected 48 runs off the last two overs.
But the visitors were also guilty of a meek reply in a do-or-die contest which had their top-order blown away in the Powerplay, leaving the rest of the contest a mere formality.
Chasing 181, Delhi Capitals, who were without regular skipper Axar Patel in this game, were bundled out for 121 in 18.2 overs with Sameer Rizvi (39) being the top scorer.
Mitchell Santner was the pick of the Mumbai Indians bowlers, with sensational figures of 3/11 in four overs as he dismissed Rizvi, Vipraj Nigam (20) and Ashutosh Sharma (18).
Jasprit Bumrah also dismantled the DC batting line-up, as he picked up 3/12 in 3.2 overs.
Delhi Capitals' hopes suffered severe blows right at the start of the chase when stand-in skipper Faf du Plessis (6) and K L Rahul (11) fell cheaply, leaving the others with a mountainous task to accomplish.
Rahul, coming off an unbeaten century in the last game, perished when he was caught behind off Trent Boult (1/29) attempting a reckless swipe across the line, while du Plessis holed out to long-on off Deepak Chahar (1/22).
Bumrah left DC reeling at 65/5 when he trapped Tristan Stubbs (2) in front of the wickets and in the 15th over, Santner dismissed Rizvi and Ashutosh to shut the doors completely on the Delhi Capitals.
Earlier in the first half, it was Suryakumar who anchored MI's resistance even as Delhi's spin pair of Kuldeep Yadav (1/22) and Nigam (0/25) exploited the sluggish nature of the surface to the maximum benefit.
On an uncharacteristic Wankhede Stadium pitch which had plenty of grip and turn for spinners and slow cutters doing the job for fast bowlers, Suryakumar dug in to produce a quality knock for the five-time IPL winners.
Suryakumar struck seven fours and four sixes to make 73 not out off 43 balls while forging two crucial stands which revived a faltering innings.
First, amid a challenging phase of play with DC's spinners dominating the proceedings, Suryakumar put on 55 runs for the fourth wicket with Tilak Varma and towards the end, found a perfect foil in Dhir (24 off 8 balls, 2x4s, 2x6s) to add another 57 runs from a mere 21 balls.
The tables turned drastically in the last two overs when the Indian T20 skipper Suryakumar and Dhir hit a grand total of five sixes and four boundaries to add 48 runs, shifting the momentum completely in MI's favour.
However, at one stage it all looked far too difficult for the Mumbai batters who struggled right from the end of the powerplay until the 18th over began.
Rohit Sharma (5) fell to a left-arm pacer for the fourth time this season edging one behind off Mustafizur Rahman ((1/30).
Suryakumar got a lifeline batting on six when a leading edge fell to the left of a diving Mukesh Kumar at short leg off Kuldeep in the seventh over.
But on the next delivery, Ryan Rickelton (25) swept one straight to Madhav Tiwari at deep square leg with which Kuldeep also completed his 100 wickets in IPL. 
It was a laborious innings from Tilak who struggled against Kuldeep and failed to cut loose when his side needed him to.
Tilak evidently struggled the most against Kuldeep, failing to even rotate the strike and managing seven runs off 11 balls form the Chinaman bowler.
Tilak's dismissal -- a mistimed hit to long-on off Mukesh (2/48) -- soon followed Hardik Pandya's (3) who was done in by a slow leg-cutter from Dushmantha Chameera (1/54) only to get an outside edge which went straight to Mukesh positioned at backward point.
Like Tilak, Suryakumar too had his struggles against the Delhi spinners who found adequate turn to keep the free-flowing batter in check but he capitalised towards the end to produce arguably his finest knock of the season.
© 2025