Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Capitals comfortably, with 8 balls to spare, to lift the IPL trophy for a record fifth time, that too in a span of eight years. Trent Boult (4-0-30-3) reduced Delhi to 22/3 before Shreyas Iyer (65* in 50 balls) and Rishabh Pant (56 in 38) added 96 in 69 balls. Delhi eventually reached 156/7. Mumbai then won by 5 wickets, largely due to Rohit Sharma’s (68 in 51) initial onslaught and Ishan Kishan’s (33* in 19) composed presence.
“If you could throw Mumbai into the T20 World Cup, they will win it,” commented Michael Vaughan in My11 Circle Cricbuzz Live. “Mumbai are the best T20 team in the world … They have got absolutely everything covered. To win a final just with a cigar in the mouth – it wasn’t really a contest.”Joy Bhattacharjya added: “The one word that comes in mind with this Mumbai side in mind is power. The number of guys who can hit sixes, the number of guys who can muscle the ball out of the ground … They have built a T20 side. They have accumulated piece by piece. Not all the pieces have been big-name pieces … They have seen something in them, and they have persisted with him.”
Vaughan also spoke very highly of Rohit: “I honestly believe that the Indian team would be better off in T20 cricket being led by Rohit Sharma. The reason I say this that Virat Kohli is superhuman. By giving away one aspect of the captaincy will free him up to be the fifty-over leader and the Test match leader.”“It’s what the facts tell you,” Gaurav Kapur agreed. “He has won five trophies now – five, out of a total of 13, which is absolutely bizarre … That is a phenomenal success rate.”
Bhattacharjya laid emphasis on Rohit’s qualities as captain: “His attitude with players who can’t make it. He is so kind, so empathetic, it’s amazing.”
Boult, Player of the Match in the final, finished with 16 wickets in the Powerplay overs alone. “He always makes the first ball count … He does not bowl any looseners … He has been the one bowler [who has] consistently found a bit of movement with the new ball”, said Michael Vaughan of him. “I like his intensity. I like his body language.”
KL Rahul (670 runs) won the Orange Cap and Kagiso Rabada (30 wickets) won the Purple Cap, while Jofra Archer (305 points) was named MVP of the tournament.
