Delhi Capitals secured an impressive opening victory in the Indian Premier League against Mumbai Indians at Brabourne Stadium, beating the five-time champions by four wickets.
Despite missing David Warner, Mitchell Marsh and Anrich Nortje, the Capitals ultimately eased to victory, with Lalit Yadav (47 not out) and Axar Patel (38 not out) rescuing what had looked like a precarious situation.
An impressive 81 from 48 balls from Ishan Kishan helped the hosts on their way to 177-5 from their 20 overs, and they then reduced the Capitals to 104-6 from 13.2 overs, only for a partnership of 75 off the next five overs from Lalit and Axar to see the visitors home.
Kishan put on an opening stand of 67 with Indians captain Rohit Sharma (41) before the latter hit Kuldeep Yadav (3-18) to Rovman Powell.
Delhi appeared to be back in contention when the dangerous Kieron Pollard was caught brilliantly by Tim Seifert, the fielder taking a diving two-handed catch to his left to dismiss the Trinidadian for just three, but Tim David (12) played the support role for Kishan to do the damage, hitting 11 fours and two sixes.
Prithvi Shaw (38) and Seifert (21) made a promising start in reply before New Zealander Seifert was bowled by Murugan Ashwin, with Mandeep Singh following two balls later for a duck.
Capitals coach Ricky Ponting looked concerned on the sidelines when skipper Rishabh Pant hit a Tymal Mills delivery straight to David for just one, but Lalit and Axar eventually put on a show to see their team to victory.
Axar makes amends with the bat
Axar had not had the best of times with the ball in hand, going for 40 from his four overs without taking a wicket.
However, he more than made up for it with the bat as he smacked 38 from just 17 balls, including three sixes and the winning four to see his side to victory.
Sams has day to forget
Someone else who did not enjoy bowling was Daniel Sams, who went for 57 without taking a wicket from his four overs, including conceding nine boundaries (six fours, three sixes).
The game looked like it was drifting heavily towards Delhi's favour anyway, but that was confirmed when the Australian's final over went for 24.