Mumbai Indians’ ‘forever captain’ Rohit Sharma‘s tactical call was executed to perfection by ‘Impact Substitute’ Karn Sharma as they made a comeback for the ages with a 12-run victory over Delhi Capitals in Delhi on Sunday to bring their IPL campaign back on track. Chasing a target of 206, Karun Nair‘s brilliant 40-ball-89 went in vain as Delhi Capitals, who were cruising along at 119 for one just after the halfway stage, ended on 193 in 19 overs after an eventful penultimate over which saw three run outs and two boundaries. At the end of action on Sunday, Nicholas Pooran continued to hold the Orange Cap with 349 runs, while Noor Ahmad too kept the Purple Cap with him with 12 wickets to his name.

Rohit, the tactician par excellence, indicated to his coach Mahela Jayawardene to bring in Karn and also asked for a ball change after the 11th over.

And suddenly the ball started to grip and turn with Mitchell Santner‘s dream delivery disturbing Nair’s off-stick and Karn picking up three for 36 on a day ruled by wrist spinners.

Once KL Rahul, not known for handling pressure situations on slightly slowish track, was fooled by a classic leg-break by Karn, which lobbed up, the DC batting started to crumble.

In the end, MI’s brilliant ground fielding showed its effect as three run outs ended Delhi Capitals’s brilliant streak of wins.

This is the kind of victory that lifts the spirit and Rohit’s observation on the changing nature of the track and initiation of spinners on a day when Jasprit Bumrah was off-colour did the trick.

For DC, Nair, one of India’s only two Test triple centurions but who was down and out till the start of the 2024-25 domestic season, became the proverbial phoenix, rising from the ashes with stupendous performance on the day.

The pick-up pull off Bumrah over square-leg and a lofted off-drive for six in the seventh over had stunned the bowler and two more sixes off MI skipper Hardik Pandya had the crowd yearning for more.

But Santner pitched one on middle stump, got it to turn away and squared up the batter, and it was certainly the game-changing moment as far as MI were concerned.

Earlier, Kuldeep Yadav‘s artistry was well complemented by young leg-spinner Vipraj Nigam‘s happy knack of picking wickets before Tilak Varma‘s attractive half-century took Mumbai Indians to 205 for 5 in 20 overs.

Tilak (59 off 33 balls) was the only MI batter to capitalise on a good start, hitting six fours and three sixes and making amends for his poor scores in some of the earlier games. Naman Dheer (38 not out off 17 balls) then used the long handle to prop up the total.

On a track where stroke-making wasn’t very difficult, the two wrist spinners from Uttar Pradesh snared four wickets between them while giving away 64 runs in their eight overs, which could be termed as brilliant considering the conditions.

The two spinners actually reduced the pace of their deliveries, allowing them to slightly grip off the surface and some of the MI batters perished while going for risky shots.

Rohit’s (18 off 12 balls) wretched IPL form continued as young Vipraj (2/41 in 4 overs) found him plumb in-front with a googly that he missed while trying to go for a slog sweep over the cow-corner. He now has 56 runs from five innings.

For Vipraj, it is some kind of an achievement getting Virat Kohli and Rohit in back-to-back games.

Rohit’s opening partner Ryan Rickleton (41 off 25 balls) did show spark but the seasoned Kuldeep (2/23 in 4 overs) seemed to have tied a thread to the white Kookaburra, controlling its length like a yo-yo.

Kuldeep flighted the deliveries, there was late dip and Rickleton perished while trying to play for the turn but it was a flipper that went straight.

In case of Suryakumar Yadav (40 off 27 balls), who had just started looking dangerous, Kuldeep decreased the pace and bowled the googly as the bat face turned for India’s T20 skipper. The result was a simple catch in the deep.

Tilak and Naman then added 62 runs in 5.3 overs overs to take the team past 200-run mark, which proved to be enough in the end.

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