MI's Campaign Back On Track

De Kock, Chahar And Bumrah Star In Facile 7-Wicket Triumph Vs Royals

- Gaurav Gupta

When the plane touched down at the Delhi airport a few days ago, Quinton de Kock must’ve been experiencing some sort of nervousness.

One of the star performers of the Mumbai Indians’ triumphant, dominant run in IPL-2020, de Kock had managed just 47 runs in four outings in this edition so far, with 40 of those runs coming in one knock. Like the rest of his batting colleagues at MI, the South African wicketkeeper had found it tough to cope with the slow and turning surface at Chennai.

The beautiful batting pitch at the Arun Jaitely Stadium in the Capital, though, was exactly the tonic that de Kock needed to find his mojo. Playing shots all around the park, the 28-year-old left-hander smashed his maiden half-century this season-an unbeaten 70 (50b, 6x4, 2x6) -to help MI to a seven-wicket win over the Rajasthan Royals on Thursday afternoon. It helped the defending champions end the sequence of two defeats on the bounce and record their third win in six games to keep occupying the mid-table slot. The Royals, meanwhile, now languish at the seventh spot with four defeats in six games and need to pull up their socks before it’s too late.