Suryakumar, Santner steal the show as MI seals final playoff spot in style

Suryakumar Yadav and Naman Dhir’s quickfire partnership changed the course of the virtual quarterfinal between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals in IPL 2025. Capitals didn’t recover from the deadly blows as Mumbai sealed the only remaining place in the playoffs with an emphatic 59-run win at the Wankhede Stadium on May 21, 2025.

The sky stayed clear despite an adverse weather warning, paving way for Suryakumar to extend his record run. While the runs poured in, courtesy of Suryakumar and Dhir during their 57-run unbroken stand in 21 balls for the sixth wicket, Mitchell Santner’s left-arm spin blew Capitals away.

Santner’s magic spell of three for 11 overshadowed his DC spin counterparts Vipraj Nigam and Kuldeep Yadav on the centre-pitch that

aided the spinners big time. He accounted for Vipraj — promoted in the absence of Capitals captain Axar Patel who was down with flu — by cramping him for room in the eighth over.

The blow ensured MI’s good work in the Powerplay – with stand-in captain Faf du Plessis skying Deepak Chahar, Boult forcing KL Rahul to nick one that was moving away and Will Jacks continuing his left-arm specialist by drawing Abishek Porel out of the crease – was built on.

With Jasprit Bumrah striking in the middle overs, Santner sounded the death-knell with a double strike in his last over.

For the first 18 overs of MI’s batting essay, however, the home team was far from being assured of a Playoffs place. Even after Dhir, the designated finisher, joined Suryakumar – who equalled Temba Bavuma’s record of most consecutive 25+ scores in T20 cricket with his 13th such achievement of the season – in the middle, the runs hadn’t started flowing.

Kuldeep and Nigam ensured the Capitals didn’t miss Axar, the bowler, by returning combined figures of 8-0-47-2. Suryakumar waited for the pace to be reintroduced and the in-form batter and Dhir went after Mukesh Kumar and Dushmantha Chameera. So fierce was their onslaught on Mukesh in the penultimate over that the over cost Mukesh 27 runs, six more than the number of runs he had conceded in his first three overs.

The duo added 21 more off Chameera in the last over to peg Capitals’ back. And the visiting team never recovered from the lusty blows.

Scoreboard

MUMBAI INDIANS

Ryan Rickelton c Tiwari b Kuldeep 25 (18b, 2×6), Rohit Sharma c Porel b Mustafizur 5 (5b, 1×4), Will Jacks c Vipraj b Mukesh 21 (13b, 3×4, 1×6), Suryakumar Yadav (not out) 73 (43b, 7×4, 4×6), Tilak Varma c Rizvi b Mukesh 27 (27b, 1×4, 1×6), Hardik Pandya c Mukesh b Chameera 3 (6b), Naman Dhir (not out) 24 (8b, 2×4, 2×6); Extras (lb-1, w-1): 2; Total (for five wkts. in 20 overs): 180.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-23 (Rohit, 2.2 overs), 2-48 (Jacks, 5.3), 3-58 (Rickelton, 6.4), 4-113 (Tilak, 14.5), 5-123 (Hardik, 16.3).

CAPITALS BOWLING

Mukesh 4-0-48-2, Chameera 4-0-54-1, Mustafizur 4-0-30-1, Vipraj 4-0-25-0, Kuldeep 4-0-22-1.

DELHI CAPITALS

K.L. Rahul (Impact Player for Mukesh) c Rickelton b Boult 11 (6b, 2×4), Faf du Plessis c Santner b Chahar 6 (7b, 1×4), Abishek Porel st. Rickelton b Jacks 6 (9b), Sameer Rizvi b Santner 39 (35b, 6×4, 1×6), Vipraj Nigam c & b Santner 20 (11b, 3×4, 1×6), Tristan Stubbs lbw b Bumrah 2 (4b), Ashutosh Sharma st. Rickelton b Santner 18 (16b, 1×4, 1×6), Madhav Tiwari b Bumrah 3 (4b), Dushmantha Chameera (not out) 8 (10b), Kuldeep Yadav c sub (Bawa) b Karn 7 (8b), Mustafizur Rahman b Bumrah 0 (1b); Extras (nb-1): 1; Total (in 18.2 overs): 121.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-12 (du Plessis, 1.4), 2-20 (Rahul, 2.4), 3-27 (Porel, 4.2), 4-55 (Vipraj, 7.6), 5-65 (Stubbs, 9.2), 6-103 (Rizvi, 14.2), 7-104 (Ashutosh, 14.5), 8-108 (Tiwari, 15.3), 9-120 (Kuldeep, 17.6).

MUMBAI INDIANS BOWLING

Boult 4-0-29-1, Chahar 3-0-22-1, Jacks 1-0-16-1, Santner 4-0-11-3, Bumrah 3.2-0-12-3, Karn (Impact Player for Rohit) 3-0-31-1.

Toss: DC.

MI won by 59 runs.

DC 103/5 in 14 overs

Rizvi (39) and Ashutosh (18) were in the middle