37-year-old Karn Sharma picked up the Player of the Match award in his very first game of the Indian Premier League 2025. Karn trumped Karun Nair’s incredible 89-run innings to hand Delhi Capitals their first defeat of the season.
Defending 205 runs, Mumbai were put in a spot of bother against Delhi, as the hosts were on a rampage with Karun Nair going all guns blazing. Karun had dominated Jasprit Bumrah in the game and had raced to a 22-ball fifty in his IPL comeback. After Bumrah got bashed around the park, spinners Karn Sharma and Mitchell Santner took matters into their own hands to get MI back in the game.
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Karn and Santner picked up five wickets between them. While Karn dismissed Abishek Porel, KL Rahul, and Tristan Stubbs, Santner got the prized wickets of Karun Nair and Vipraj Nigam. Speaking at the post-match press conference, Sharma said that the change of ball turned out to be a crucial point in the match.
“They were cruising at 10–11 runs per over. So it was important for Santner and me to chip in with crucial wickets,” Karn Sharma told the media after the match.
“The change of ball can be termed as the game-changing moment. The old ball was getting wet due to dew. The new ball gives you that ‘purchase’ from the wicket, which Santner and I were able to extract,” he added.
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“DC were on the front foot in the run chase. We were a bit under pressure until Karun Nair’s wicket, after which 2–3 wickets fell in quick succession. Thereafter, KL Rahul got dismissed and we were right back in the game. He [KL Rahul] performed well in the previous match [vs RCB], so his wicket was pivotal,” the spinner concluded.
This was Mumbai’s first win away from home and their second win overall in the competition. The team executed three back-to-back run-outs in the final overs of the Delhi innings to win the match by 12 runs. Mumbai are currently in 7th spot in the league table with 4 points from 6 matches.
Delhi, on the other hand, slipped from the top spot and are now in 2nd place behind Gujarat Titans.
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