In another run fest in IPL 2024, Jake-Fraser McGurk’s 84 off 27 balls proved to be the difference as Delhi Capitals (DC) beat Mumbai Indians (MI) by ten runs in Delhi.

Apart from Fraser-McGurk, Shai Hope and Tristan Stubbs also played crucial knocks for DC as they posted 257 for 4 after being sent in. In reply, MI lost three wickets in the powerplay – the big ones of Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav – but Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya kept their hopes alive.

Rasikh Salam however, turned the game by dismissing Hardik and Nehal Wadhera in the same over. While Tilak and Tim David fought till the end, MI eventually fell short.

The win took DC to fifth place on the points table with ten points from as many games. MI stay rooted to ninth with six points from nine matches.

As he has done often in his fledgling career so far, Fraser-McGurk did not waste time getting his eye in and his bat swinging. With a slightly open stance to left-arm seamer Luke Wood, he smashed the first three balls of the innings for 4, 4 and 6.

After taking 19 from the first over, he greeted Jasprit Bumrah in the same manner. Bumrah started his over with a slower ball only to be launched over long-on for a six. To make things worse, Bumrah had overstepped, and Fraser-McGurk drilled the free-hit past long-on for four. Fraser-McGurk ended the over with another boundary, making it Bumrah’s most expensive over (18 runs) of the season.

DC reached 50 in just 2.4 overs, the joint-fastest for a team in the IPL. In the next over, Fraser-McGurk got to his own fifty. Coming off just 15 balls, it was the joint fourth fastest in the tournament’s history.

Hardik brought himself on for the fifth over but there was no stopping Fraser-McGurk, who hammered the MI captain for two fours and two sixes to take DC to 89 for no loss after five overs.

For a moment, it looked like Fraser-McGurk might break the record for the fastest T20 hundred – he already has the fastest List A hundred to his name – but he holed out to deep midwicket against Piyush Chawla for a 27-ball 84.

Walking in at 114 for 1 in 7.3 overs, Hope ensured there was no dip in the momentum. Over the last one year or so, he has worked on his six-hitting skills and has demonstrated the same in ODIs but was unable to do so in T20s. On Saturday, though, he smashed five sixes in a 17-ball 41 to keep DC going in the middle overs.

After Hope fell, Stubbs took over and raced to 48 not out off 25 balls. In the 18th over, he used scoops, reverse-scoops and pulls to hit five fours and a six off Wood. Despite Bumrah dismissing Rishabh Pant in the 19th and conceding only six, DC had no trouble in crossing 250.

MI had a brisk start to their chase with Ishan Kishan hitting three successive fours off Khaleel Ahmed in the second over. But Khaleel made a good comeback and had Rohit Sharma caught at mid-off in his next over. From the other end, Mukesh Kumar had Kishan miscuing one to make it 45 for 2.

Suryakumar Yadav started with a flurry of boundaries, including two scooped sixes. But in the last over of the powerplay, he failed to pick a slower ball from Khaleel and fell for 26 off 13 balls.

MI had slowed down a bit after the powerplay but Hardik put them back on track. He hit Axar Patel for a six off the last ball of the eighth over and then smacked three fours and a six off Kuldeep Yadav in the ninth. Tilak, who was batting on a run-a-ball eight till then, also got into the act with a six and a four in Axar’s next over.

MI were still playing catch-up when Rasikh, after coming in as Impact Player, pegged them further back with a two-wicket over. Hardik ended up skying a back-of-the-hand slower ball to backward point and Nehal Wadhera guided a length delivery straight to Pant. That left MI needing 117 from seven overs with five wickets in hand.

Tilak and David kept the fight going. Tilak hit Kuldeep for two fours and two sixes in a 21-run 15th over to bring the equation down to 85 from five overs. But another excellent over by Rasikh, which went for only seven, made it 64 required from three.

David took on Mukesh and hit him for two sixes and a four to start the 18th over but was lbw off the next ball. Rasikh went for 16 in the penultimate over but dismissed Mohammad Nabi, which meant it was Tilak or bust for MI with 25 required from the final over.

Tilak went for a risky second run off the first ball of that over only to be caught short, and Mukesh held his nerve for the next five balls to seal the win for DC.

Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 257/4 in 20 overs (Jake Fraser-McGurk 84, Abhishek Porel 36, Shai Hope 41, Rishabh Pant 29,  Tristan Stubbs 48*; Jasprit Bumrah 1-35, Luke Wood  1-68, Piyush Chawla 1-36, Mohammad Nabi 1-20) beat  Mumbai Indians 247/9 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 20, Suriyakumar Yadav 26, Tilak Varma 63, Hardik Pandya 46, Tim David 37; Khaleel Ahmed 2-45, Mukesh Kumar 3-59, Rasikh Dar 3-34) by 10 runs

(Cricinfo)