IPL 2023: Rohit ending half-century drought, Delhi's spectacular collapse and other top moments from DC-MI clash

A third last-ball cliffhanger in as many days. This season of the Indian Premier League is turning out to be quite something else!

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Mumbai Indians finally opened their account this season with a six-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals in Delhi on Tuesday. However, It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the five-time champions, who are known to be slow-starters in the league, as they nearly bottled the chase from a dominant position.

A victory’s a victory though, and the Rohit Sharma-led side will take it however it comes, hoping that the two points on the board that takes them to the eighth spot on the points table past Sunrisers Hyderabad is the start of a revival two weeks into the 16th edition of the tournament.

As for Delhi Capitals, who are being led by David Warner with regular skipper Rishabh Pant out of action for a while after meeting with an accident, a fourth defeat in as many games this season has made the road to the playoffs an extremely difficult, if not impossible path, and they will have to play out of their skins this season if they are to keep their hopes of lifting their first-ever title alive.

As we look back at the events of the Delhi Capitals vs Mumbai Indians clash, we take a look at some of the top moments:

Axar produces game-changing knock

Delhi would have struggled crossing 150 today had it not been for Axar Patel’s game-changing 54, the all-rounder racing to his maiden IPL half-century in just 22 deliveries and helping his team recover from a collapse in the middle overs.

Though David Warner also brought up a half-century batting at the other end, his strike rate was a major concern for the home team and it was Axar’s effortless hitting all over the park that ultimately put them on the path towards a challenging total. The spin-bowling all-rounder, who had been in terrific form both with bat and ball across formats for India before the IPL, collected four boundaries and five maximums during his knock.

Delhi collapse like a pack of cards

Losing wickets in a cluster has been one of the main reasons why Delhi have struggled this season and that issue reared its head in the defeat to Mumbai as well as Delhi suffered collapses not once, but twice.

First it was Piyush Chawla’s inspired spell of 3/22 with the veteran leg-spinner shifting the momentum by getting rid of Manish Pandey shortly after powerplay. Chawla would then dismiss Rovman Powell and Lalit Yadav for single-digit scores as DC collapsed to 98/5 from 76/1.

Four wickets in the penultimate over by Jason Behrendorff including a brilliant direct-hit