Mumbai Indians (MI) sealed the fourth and final playoff berth in IPL 2025 with a 59-run drubbing of Delhi Capitals (DC) at Wankhede Stadium. The five-time champions have 16 points from 13 games. With 13 from 13 and one match to play, DC cannot catch up with them. Many of the seven league games still remaining will see the qualifiers jostle for the top-two slots.
The victory looked easy in the end, but MI were in trouble for the most part of their innings. The pitch wasn’t a typical IPL belter, DC’s spinners got considerable purchase and despite the best of their efforts, the MI batters couldn’t force the pace. The total read 54/2 after six overs, 80/3 after 10 and 114/4 after 15. With two overs to go, MI were 132/5 and 155 appeared to big total at that point.
The game turned on its head in the last two overs of the MI innings. Playing within himself and going at a rate well below his standards, Suryakumar Yadav cut loose in the company of Naman Dhir. Mukesh Kumar went for 27 runs in the 19th over. The last one by Dushanta Chameera fetched 21. The two added 57 off 21 balls to take the team to 180, which looked a far cry at one stage.
Surya continued his good run and played some outrageous shots over the cover and extra-cover region when the faster bowlers kept it wide outside off. There were also some meaty blows on the leg-side in his unbeaten 73 off 43 balls. Dhir smashed 24 not out off eight. The good work of Kuldeep Yadav, Vipraj Nigam and Mustafizur Rahman was undone in the last two overs.
On a pitch not assisting stroke-play and against a strong attack, DC lost the plot early. It was 27/3 in the fifth over and Jasprit Bumrah had not even come on to bowl by then. The world’s best fast ended DC’s brief counterattack launched by Nigam and cleaned up the tail to finish with 3/12 from 3.2 overs. Mitchell Santner was another standout bowler, having taken 3/11 from four.
A lot depended on KL Rahul, who opened the innings with Faf du Plessis. The South African was leading DC in the place of an indisposed Axar Patel. But Rahul fell cheaply, so did Du Plessis and Axar’s absence in the middle-order proved decisive. The asking rate kept mounting and DC were actually out of it well before the match ended officially.
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