Pant's heroics guide Delhi to 213/6 vs Mumbai

Mumbai, March 24 (IANS) Rishabh Pant's blistering innings helped Delhi Capitals post a massive 213/6 against Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 campaign opener at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Sunday.

As soon as Pant arrived in the middle, the young stumper took every bowler to cleaners to blast 78 runs off just 27 deliveries, which contained seven boundaries and as many hits into the stands.

Apart from Pant, opener Shikhar Dhawan (43 off 36) and Colin Ingram (47 off 32) also made valuable contributions in the top order.

Put to bat, Delhi were off to a poor start as they lost opener Prithvi Shaw (7) and skipper Shreyas Iyer (16) with just 29 runs on board. Mumbai pacer Mitchell McClenaghan accounted for both the wickets.

Dhawan and Ingram then stabilised Delhi's innings with a crucial 83-run partnership for the third wicket before Ben Cutting sent the later to the hut in the 13th over.

With Delhi's scorecard reading 112/3, it seemed the visitors will hardly cross the 150-run mark. But Pant's arrival changed the whole scenario as he started smashing every Mumbai bowler.

Delhi lost Dhawan, Keemo Paul (3) and Axar Patel (4) at regular intervals, but Pant kept one end intact and guided his team to a huge total.

For Mumbai, McClenaghan was the pick of bowlers with figures of 3/40, while Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Ben Cutting picked a wicket each.

Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 213/6 in 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 78 not out, Colin Ingram 47; Mitchell McClenaghan 3/40) vs Mumbai Indians