Mumbai Indians claim fifth IPL trophy

Our Correspondent

Mumbai Indians were crowned the champions of Dream11 IPL 2020 after they defeated Delhi Capitals in a one-sided match in Dubai on November 10.

Mumbai chased down the 157-run target set by Delhi in 18.4 overs with five wickets in hand to claim their fifth IPL title. MI skipper Rohit Sharma led from the front with a superb half-century (68 runs off 50 balls) while Ishan Kishan remained unbeaten on 33.

The captain had three good partnerships – first a 45-run opening stand with Quinton de Kock followed by another with Suryakumar Yadav, and thirdly a 47-run stand with Ishan Kishan (33 not out).

Earlier, DC won the toss and opted to bat first. It had a bad start, losing Marcus Stoinis in the first ball of the match. Trent Boult (3-30) brought Delhi to 22/3 taking the wickets of Stoinis, Ajinkya Rahane and Shimron Hetmyer.

Skipper Shreyas Iyer (65 off 50) and Rishabh Pant (56 off 38) then had a 96-run third-wicket stand that gave Delhi a fighting total of 156/7.

MI brought in off-spinner Jayant Yadav in place of leg-spinner Rahul Chahar while DC had an unchanged XI. Jayant Yadav took the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan (15 off 13) to strengthen MI’s position in the match.

Trent Boult was adjudged player of the match and Jofra Archer of Rajasthan Royals the player of the tournament. Archer, the  England fast bowler, took 20 wickets in 14 matches, five catches and some excellent batting cameos with his five fours and 10 sixes.

Delhi’s Kagiso Rabada won the Purple Cap for the most wickets (30) in the tournament. Kings XI Punjab batsman KL Rahul took the orange cap for leading run-scorer, amassing 670 in 14 matches, including a century and five half centuries.

Royal Challengers Bangalore opener Devdutt Padikkal won the Emerging Player award. The 20-year-old scored 483 runs and scored five half-centuries.

This was the toughest and most evenly contested IPLs in the history of the tournament. The 13th edition of Indian Premier League saw all 8 teams winning six matches each for the first time.