Group stage

The Mumbai Indians were ranked first in the league table, though their season started with a loss to the Chennai Super Kings.^[8] After losing two of their first three games, Mumbai won five consecutive matches, before their run was ended by a loss against the Kings XI Punjab.^[9] After that match, Mumbai won three of their next five matches, thus ending their season with nine wins and five losses and qualifying for the playoffs.^[10]

The Delhi Capitals started their campaign with a super over win against the Kings XI Punjab.^[11] Their first loss came in their third match, against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.^[12] They had a successful first half, winning five matches out of seven. However, they won only three games in the second half of the season, a phase which included four consecutive losses.^{[13][14][15][16]} A win in the last match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore meant that they had qualified for the playoffs, also ensuring a top-two finish.^[17]

Group stage series

Mumbai won both the league stage matches between the finalists, winning the first match by 5 wickets and the second match by 9 wickets. The Player of the Match in these two games were Quinton de Kock^[18] and Ishan Kishan^[16] respectively.

Playoffs

The playoff stage of IPL was played according to the Page playoff system and provided Mumbai and Delhi, being the top and second-ranked teams, with two chances for qualifying for the Final. These teams first faced each other in Qualifier 1, with Mumbai, as the winners, qualifying directly for the final; Delhi, as the loser of Qualifier 1, played against the winner of the Eliminator in Qualifier 2, with the winner of that match qualifying for the final.

In Qualifier 1, Delhi won the toss and chose to bowl. Mumbai scored 200/5 in their 20 overs, with Ishan Kishan top-scoring with 55*. Ravichandran Ashwin was the best bowler for Delhi, ending with the figures of 3/29. In reply, Delhi could only manage 143/8 and lost the game by 57 runs. Marcus Stoinis top-scored for Delhi with 65 while Jasprit Bumrah took 4/14 for Mumbai and was the Player of the Match.^[19] As a result, the Mumbai Indians qualified for the final for sixth time.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad won against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Eliminator to set up a match against Delhi to decide the second finalist.^[20]

In Qualifier 2, Delhi won the toss and chose to bat. They scored 189/3 in their 20 overs; Shikhar Dhawan top-scored with 72. Rashid Khan had Hyderabad's best bowling figures with 1/26 in his four overs. In reply, Hyderabad could only manage 172/8 and lost the game by 17 runs. Kane Williamson was Hyderabad's top-scorer with 67. Kagiso Rabada had Delhi's best bowling figures with 4/29 and received the Purple Cap (for the tournament leading wicket taker) at the end of the match. Marcus Stoinis was the Player of the Match for his all-round performance.^[21] Delhi thus qualified for their first IPL final.

Summary

Shreyas Iyer, the captain of the Delhi Capitals, won the toss and elected to bat. The Delhi Capitals scored 156 runs for the loss of seven wickets. The Mumbai Indians chased down the target with eight balls and five wickets to spare, scoring 157 runs. The Mumbai Indians' fast bowler Trent Boult was named the Player of the Match for his decisive spell of three wickets for 30 runs.^[22]

Scorecard

Source:^[23]

• On-field umpires: Chris Gaffaney and Nitin Menon
• Third umpire: Anil Chaudhary
• Reserve umpire: K. N. Ananthapadmanabhan
• Match referee: Javagal Srinath
• Toss: Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to bat.

Fall of wickets: 1–0 (Stoinis, 0.1 overs), 2–16 (Rahane, 2.4 overs), 3–22 (Dhawan, 3.3 overs), 4–118 (Pant, 14.6 overs), 5–137 (Hetmyer, 17.2 overs), 6–149 (Patel, 19.2 overs), 7–156 (Rabada, 19.6 overs)

Fall of wickets: 1–45 (de Kock, 4.1 overs), 2–90 (Suryakumar, 10.5 overs), 3–137 (Rohit, 16.2 overs), 4–147 (Pollard, 17.1 overs), 5–156 (Hardik, 18.3 overs)