Watch: Axar Patel castles Rohit Sharma with ripper to deny him first IPL 2024 fifty

Delhi Capitals all-rounder Axar Patel had the last laugh as he executed a fantastic flipper delivery that went straight inside after pitching and cleaned up the stumps of Mumbai Indians opener Rohit Sharma. The 36-year-old, who walked out to bat with Ishan Kishan, had taken MI off to a flying start and was leading the charge with non-stop 6s and 4s. Rohit was batting at a strike rate of almost 175 and even if he had departed from the crease, the home team had an early advantage.

Rohit Sharma had smacked a few sixes and fours off Axar Patel in his first over but the latter responded very well in just his second over. On his comeback over, Patel held on to a very good line length in a disciplined manner and the ball that he used to get rid of Rohit was a classic example of how a flipper is bowled. Patel had the seam positioning of a normal finger spinner but this angled inside of his National team captain.

Rohit Sharma was not expecting that much of an angle change and was looking to go down the track and put his bat just in time before the ball arrived. However, Axar Patel's delivery had everything, the ball generated enough bounce, darted inside the batter and struck straight to the off-stump. With that, another chance got away for Rohit to score his first fifty of the new season. But he will be happy to come up with an improved performance today after getting out for a golden duck during MI's 6-wicket loss to Rajasthan Royals on April 1.

After Rohit Sharma, Axar Patel also gets rid of Ishan Kishan while Nortje gets Surya

Following the departure of Rohit Sharma for 49, Delhi Capitals' South African speedster Anrich Nortje scalped the wicket of number 3 batter Suryakumar Yadav, who was playing just his first competitive match since December 2023. Surya was recovering from an ankle injury as well as a sports hernia illness and it was only last week that the National Cricket Academy officials gave him the green signal to go and play IPL. Surya (0 off 2) mistimed his shot toward mid-off with Jake Fraser-McGurk completing a very good catch.

Then Axar Patel was in target again and after claiming Rohit Sharma, the left-arm finger spinner pulled off a fantastic one-handed catch to once again deny a MI opener from scoring a half-century. Ishan Kishan had carried on the momentum that Rohit helped in initiating but the left-hander struck one straight to Axar and departed after a blistering 42 off just 23 balls at a 180+ strike rate.

Khaleel Ahmed gets the better of Tilak Varma

Following the wickets of Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, DC left-arm seamer Khaleel Ahmed continued the wicket-taking spree by sending number 5 batter Tilak Varma back to the dressing room. Ahmed bowled a short delivery which Varma tried to cut away but found Axar Patel on the way. At the time of writing, MI were 133-4 after 14.2 overs.

Watch: Axar Patel castles Rohit Sharma with ripper to deny him first IPL 2024 fifty