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.
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.
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.
