In a stunning display of brutal hitting, West Indian all-rounder Romario Shepherd on Thursday slammed 32 runs in the final over of the Mumbai Indians' innings to take his team to 234/5 against Delhi Capitals at the Wankhede Stadium in the Indian Premier League 2024. (Follow Live | Scorecard)
South African speedster Anrich Nortje, who is struggling with form since his return from injury, was at the receiving end of this astonishing assault.
The West Indian all-rounder hit the first ball for a four and followed it with three massive sixes. He hit another four of the penultimate ball of the innings before making it a perfect finish by hitting a maximum of the final delivery. Shepherd finished unbeaten on 39 runs off just 10 balls.
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With a strike rate of 390, Shepherd's blitz was the second quickest innings of more than 30 in the history of IPL. Only Chris Morris' strike rate of 422.22 in his 8-ball 38 not out for Delhi Daredevils in IPL 2017 remains better than Shepherd's Thursday's knock.
The 32-run final over by Nortje was also the second-worst 20th over in tournament history, just behind Harshal Patel's 37-run over for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2021.
While the Caribbean stole the show with his pyrotechnics towards the end, Tim David, the non-striker in the final over, also remained unbeaten at 45 off just 21 balls helping MI plunder 96 runs in the final five overs.
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Earlier, put into bat after losing the toss, MI started well with Rohit Sharma (49 off 27) and Ishan Kishan (42 off 23) sharing an 80-run stand for the opening wicket. However, DC bowlers pulled back well by taking wickets regularly. Suryakumar Yadav on his much-awaited return was dismissed by Nortje for a 2-ball Duck while Tilak Varma also got out cheaply.
The run rate kept dropping with MI skipper Hardik Pandya managing a laboured 33-ball 39. However, a strong start and an even better finish took the home side to a massive 234/5.
For the visitors, Axar Patel was the standout bowler picking 2 wickets for 35 runs. Nortje also got 2 wickets but the final over assault meant he had leaked 65 runs by the end of his 4-over spell.
