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IPL 2019: Rahul Chahar's three grounds Delhi in Ferozeshah Kotla

Leg-spinner wrecks havoc on Capitals’ top-order to hand Mumbai Indians 40-run victory

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Delhi Capitals’ Rishabh Pant is clean bowled by Mumbai Indians pacer Jasprit Bumrah (not in pic) in their IPL game at the Ferozeshah Kotla in New Delhi on Thursday
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Watching veteran Amit Mishra castling his skipper Rohit Sharma must have made Rahul Chahar even more determined to repeat the same magic again later on. And, he did it in style by sending three mainstream batsmen – Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan and skipper Shreyas Iyer – of Delhi Capitals back to the pavilion to help visitors score a 40-run victory here at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Thursday.

Chahar's 3/19 in his four-over spell came at a time when hosts' opening pair of Dhawan and Shaw was taking the game away from the visitors. Chasing a target of 169, Dhawan came out to display some fierce hitting on his well-known surface here. But a well-set Dhawan tried to reverse sweep the leg-spinner Chahar and the ball hit the stumps after striking his front pad in the seventh over.

That pressed the panic button in Delhi's camp as Shaw also departed soon, after earlier surviving a leg-before appeal, by giving catch to Hardik Pandya at long on to hand Chahar his second wicket. Delhi needed a partnership at this stage as skipper Iyer joined Colin Munro at the middle. They, however, could only add three more to the total before the other Pandya, Krunal, stunned the Kiwi with his speedy left-arm straighter fired at 108.3 kmph.

Munro's bat was stranded in the air as he departed for a nine-ball three.

At this stage, Chahar almost ensured Mumbai a victory by taking his third of the match. His sharp turning delivery foxed Iyer for just three to make the scoreboard reading 63/4 in 10.2 overs.

It was all left to southpaw Rishabh Pant (7) to try and take his team near to victory. But the ever-reliable Jasprit Bumrah found the gap between Pant's bat and pad to end all hopes for the hosts.

The stumps were shattered and so were the hopes of Capitals. It was only a matter of how many runs Delhi's later batsmen could score to decrease the margin of loss. And, Axar Patel sensible 26 and Chris Morris's 11 were only helpful in reducing the margin of defeat.

Earlier for the visitors, it was again left to the Pandya brothers to take visitors out of a difficult situation towards the end of their quota of overs. Hardik smashed 32 off just 15 balls while and Krunal remained unbeaten at 37 off 26 deliveries to provide that late flourish to Mumbai innings.

This came after skipper Rohit Sharma didn't think twice before opting to bat first on this slow and low Kotla square.

And, his decision initially looked a wise one as he hit 30 off 21 balls to help Mumbai off to a good start. In fact, Sharma made good use of the power play overs, amassing 57 runs along with Quinton de Kock (25 off 16). It was when Mumbai skipper was looking in complete control that a low kept leg-spinner of Amit Mishra left him stranded at the crease.

Sharma's prized wicket also helped Delhi's veteran leggie Mishra to become first spinner in the history of IPL to pick up 150 wickets.

It was the perfect leg-break that spun sharply after pitching around middle and leg. As the ball kept on the lower side, Sharma was left with no answer and was only witnessed it hitting his off-stump.

Earlier, Mumbai skipper was forced to bring in off-spinner all-rounder Jayant Yadav to replace middle-order batsman Ishan Kishan due to his illness. The visitors also opted for Ben Cutting to replace Australian pacer Jason Behrendorff.

Delhi, on the other hand, came out with an unchanged squad that defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday.

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