IPL 2023: Mumbai Indians steamroll Sunrisers Hyderabad, record third straight victory
Local boy Thakur Tilak Varma entertained the crowd with an impactful cameo (34 off 17, 2×4, 4×6) while Cameron Green anchored the innings with a fine half-century (64 off 40; 6×4, 2×6) to help Mumbai Indians down Sunrisers by 14 runs and record third straight victory, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
At one point, Mumbai looked like posting a mediocre total. Thanks to Tilak’s knock, Mumbai posted a commanding 192/5 in stipulated 20 overs. Sunrisers lost wickets at regular intervals to be bundled out for 178 in 19.5 overs to succumb to their second defeat, third overall, at home in three matches.
Chasing the stiff target, Sunrisers lost Harry Brook and Rahul Tripathi – both to Jason Behrendorff – inside four overs. Behrendorff removed Brook in the second over and Tripathi in fourth over, to push the hosts on backfoot. Mayank Agarwal and captain Aiden Markram tried to steady the innings adding 46 runs for the third wicket. But Green dismissed Markram (22 off 17) in the 9th over. Piyush Chawla then got rid of Abhishek Sharma (1) in the next over to reduce the hosts to 72/4 in 9.1 overs.
Heinrich Klassen took Piyush Chawla to the cleaners hitting two sixes and two boundaries of successive balls. However, he was caught at the long-on on the final ball of the over to be dismissed for a 16-ball 36 (4×4, 2×6). He added 54 runs with Agarwal for the fifth wicket in 29 balls to revive the hopes of a victory. But the dismissal of Agarwal (48 off 41; 4×4, 1×6) in the 15th over, bowled by Meredith, put paid to the hosts’ chances as it went southward from there on for the hosts.
Earlier, Mumbai were off to a decent start with Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan adding 41 runs for the first wicket. Rohit welcomed Washington Sundar with a hat-trick of boundaries in the third over. T Natarajan provided the first breakthrough dismissing Rohit (28 off 18; 6×4) who tried to flick the ball over mid-wicket but ended up skying it to Aiden Markram at the mid-off.
Kishan smashed Bhuvneshwar for a six over mid-wicket as Mumbai made 53/1 in powerplay overs. Mayank Markande and Sundar bowled tight overs in the middle as the visitors reached 80/1 in 10 overs. Marco Jansen provided twin blows in the 12th over. He first dismissed Kishan (38 off 31) when Markram caught him at the mid-off. Four balls later, he got rid of Suryakumar Yadav. This time too, Markram took a diving catch to his left at the mid-off.
However, local boy Tilak Varma provided the much-needed impetus to the innings hitting consecutive sixes off Jansen in the 15th over. He then hit Markande for a maximum and lofted Bhuvneshwar for a six. But he perished trying to do an encore the next ball in the 17th over.
After Tilak’s dismissal, Green took the centre stage. He scored 20 off the 18th over with three consecutive boundaries and a six to reach his half-century in 32 deliveries to take his side to commanding total. Mumbai scored 62 runs in the final five overs.
