Until Sunday, Romario Shepherd was one among the many West Indies power-hitters plying their trade on the franchise circuit. Mumbai Indians was his third IPL franchise in three years. After six balls of muscular hitting in Mumbai on Sunday, the Guyanese all-rounder won’t be forgotten in a hurry – his heroics coming for a hugely popular franchise for whom Trinidadian Kieron Pollard (now the batting coach) used to provide the late explosive hits.
Shepherd delivered a 10-ball cameo – 39*, 3×4, 4×6 – which made the difference between what would have been a 200-plus par score and 234, leaving Delhi Capitals’ run-chase a near-impossible task. DC eventually fell short by 29 runs to hand the much-scrutinised MI their first win.
The loss pushed DC to the bottom of the points table with one win to show in five matches with the worst net run-rate among the three teams on two points – MI lie eighth and RCB ninth.
Creating mayhem at the Wankhede Stadium with his last over flourish, Shepherd ripped into fast bowler Anrich Nortje’s 20th over for 32 runs (4 sixes and 2 fours) and provided some finishing kick to the MI total that they desperately needed after a middle-overs slowdown.
MI’s total was powered by the sparkling start provided by Rohit Sharma (49 – 27b, 6×4,3×6) and the death overs onslaught. On a true pitch, Rohit and Ishan Kishan (42 – 23b, 4×4, 6×2) gave MI a flying start, collecting 75 runs in the powerplay.
Axar Patel sent the rampaging Rohit back with smart change of pace and length in the seventh over. Three successive dot balls later, Axar fired one in at 102.9 kph which foiled Rohit’s attempted cut and took the off-stump. In the final over of his spell, Axar took a sharp reflex catch to stop Kishan’s advance.
Hardik Pandya walked in at No.4 after Suryakumar Yadav fell for nought on his injury comeback. He tried to provide momentum in the middle overs but couldn’t after losing both the left-handers around him.
Axar’s unchanged spell (4-0-35-2) pushed MI back, but with Kuldeep Yadav injured, DC had no other spinner of quality, let alone a wrist-spinner to exploit dangerman Tim David’s weakness. DC pacers tried to bowl short with a packed leg-side field against the Aussie as well as Hardik but found limited success on a true pitch.
David kept finding two boundaries in every death over as DC’s pace attack looked more monotonous. After Hardik fell in the 18th over, Shepherd combined with David (45* – 21b, 2×4, 4×6) to take 19 runs of Ishant Sharma’s 19th over. He then waded into everything Nortje tried – cutters, length balls or attempted yorkers.
MI scored 96 runs in the death overs – joint second in IPL history. “I kept a clear mind and tried to hit every ball. The runs came against a tough bowler, so it was a fantastic feeling,” said Shepherd.
DC’s batting powerplay in reply was nowhere close to being as explosive, registering 46 runs. They lost David Warner, who fell to Shepherd. It was to be his day.
Prithvi Shaw’s fireworks kept DC in the game. He played a mature knock, playing out Jasprit Bumrah’s only powerplay over and showing measured aggression against the other MI pacers. He attacked Piyush Chawla’s leg-spin, lofting him over mid-wicket on bent knees and using his feet — 16 runs came off the eighth over.
Bumrah delivers again
But DC needed many such overs. With DC at 107/1 after 11 overs, captain Hardik turned to Bumrah, who produced a sharp yorker to end Shaw’s stay (66 – 40b, 8×4, 3×6)
As Tristan Stubbs and young Abhishek Porel began connecting some hits, Hardik brought on Bumrah in the 15th over. Porel (41 – 31b) holed out to long-on off a low full toss.
With 91 needed in the death overs, MI still had to be on their toes as Stubbs was batting with belligerence. He was ultimately stranded on a blistering 71* (25b, 3×4, 7×6) with Gerald Coetzee producing a three-wicket final over. In a match that saw 439 runs scored, Bumrah’s figures read 4-0-22-2.
“Coming into the game, with three losses in three games was kind of getting to us. We are a big team and there are big expectations from us. We didn’t want to go four down. It was great for me to get runs at the end and get us over the line,” said Shepherd.
Marsh’s IPL in doubt
DC all-rounder and Australian T20 captain Mitch Marsh has suffered a hamstring injury and could be out of IPL if his scan reports are not good. “A few of our players are injured, and the worrying sign is Marsh,” DC assistant coach Pravin Amre said. “He has gone for a scan and the physios will give us a report in a week’s time. Then we will come to know what the exact situation is. Whether he can (play the rest of the season) or not depends on the report.”
Amre added that pacer Mukesh Kumar could return for the next match, while left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav may take another game or two before he comes back from his groin injury.
