Four balls. Four singles. This passage across two Axar Patel overs to Tilak Varma just before the halfway mark of Mumbai Indians' mammoth chase of 258 may have cost them two crucial points against Delhi Capitals, in Hardik Pandya's opinion.
Axar, the left-arm spinner, came on to bowl in the eighth over with MI 72 for 3.
He bowled six of his twelve deliveries to Tilak, a left-hand batter and therefore with a favourable match-up with Axar. The first four balls Tilak faced, he got singles with shots that didn't signal any attacking intent. Tilak then hit six and four off the last two to take MI to 115 for 3 at the ten-over mark. With Tilak batting until the end of the match, Axar did not return to bowl. Axar conceded 24 runs in his two overs.
Kuldeep Yadav, the left-arm wristspinner, conceded 47 runs in his three overs. In his first two overs, he bowled four balls to Tilak, and again, there was no shot in anger as Tilak collected four singles. Tilak, however, took him on in his third and final over, the 15th of the innings, and sent him for two sixes and two fours.