IPL 2019: 3 Positive signs for the new look Delhi Capitals from the opening game

The 3rd match of the tournament and their respective first matches of IPL 2019, resulted in Delhi Capitals trumping the Mumbai Indians by 37 runs.

Mumbai Indians won the toss at home and decided to put DC in to bat. There were plenty of surprise faces when Mumbai played their surprise uncapped player of the season, Rashikh Salam while Yuvraj Singh started his new campaign as a Mumbai player.

Mumbai started on a strong note getting the wicket of Shaw but a special inning from Rishabh Pant meant Mumbai Indians had a mountain to climb in the second innings. Early strikes from the comeback man Ishant Sharma meant their main man-Rohit Sharma was back in the hut and it was only going to get tougher from there.

There were some handy cameos from Pollard and Krunal Pandya while Yuvraj Singh top-scored with a well-made 53 but that alone was never going to be enough for Mumbai to register their first win of the campaign. Here are 3 reasons why DC won:

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#1 Rishabh Pant's form

Rishabh Pant scored a blazing 78

For a long time now, people have been talking about Rishabh Pant being the successor of MS Dhoni and today he showed just why he is rated so highly.

Coming in to bat at 5 raised a few eyebrows from the fans of Pant, but he seized his opportunity with both hands and blasted his way to a match-winning 78*. With 7 fours and 7 sixes at a strike rate of 289, the night belonged to Pant.

He thumped the Mumbai bowlers all over the park, not showing mercy to any of the bowlers including Bumrah who has been in great form for the past year or so. The young Indian wicketkeeper scored over 500 runs last campaign and he looks likely to continue in the same vein again this year.

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#2 Crucial knock from Colin Ingram

Colin Ingram stabilized the innings after the loss of two quick wickets

With the score 29-2 in 3.4 overs, in walked South African veteran Colin Ingram. He came in to bat in such a situation wherein his wicket could decide the course of the match.

He could have taken his time and settled in while letting Dhawan play his natural game. This would not have led the Delhi Capitals to such a high total. Instead, he decided to take maximum advantage of the short boundaries along with the powerplay at the Wankhede.

He mixed aggression with caution as he stitched up a handy partnership with Dhawan. This meant Pant had a solid foundation laid already for him and all he had to do was take-off.

He didn’t let any Mumbai bowler settle down and went after their bowling attack with cautioned aggression. He ended up scoring 47 runs off 32 balls at a strike rate of 146 to set up the platform for a high total.

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#3 Discipline with the ball

Ishant Sharma removed both the openers

Although the target was huge, it was achievable especially for the Mumbai batsmen playing on their home patch.

Disciplined bowling from Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada and Trent Boult meant Mumbai ended up losing 3 crucial wickets in the powerplay. Eyebrows were raised when DC picked Ishant Sharma who has had a knack of leaking runs and overall proving ineffective in the IPL, but the local lad snapped up both Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock.

Those early wickets basically meant Mumbai had to do the impossible. Rabada too was on the money for the Delhi franchise today with his mix of variations and orthodox fast bowling.

These handy contributions paved the way for a relatively easy defending work for the rest of the bowlers as well. This trio can prove to be exactly what DC needed to get that edge over the rest of the teams.

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