Fourth straight win for Mumbai Indians, which takes its points tally to 10 and to third place from nine games
HYDERABAD: Mumbai Indians dished out another brilliant, all-round performance to outsmart Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets with 26 balls to spare in the IPL league match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Wednesday night.
This was the fourth straight win, which helped Mumbai take its points tally to 10 points and to third place from nine games, while Sunrisers have four points from eight games with six losses.
Chasing a modest 144, Mumbai brushed aside the early dismissal of opener Ryan Rickleton (11) by left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat (his 100th IPL victim according to statistician HR Gopalakrishna) in the second over, thanks to Rohit Sharma’s flamboyance (70, 46b, 8×4, 3×6). He showed his intent very early, pulling Sunrisers captain Pat Cummins for a six and a four. When Rohit is on song, all that the bowlers can do is just admire!
The 64-run stand for the second wicket with Will Jacks (22, 19b, 2×4, 1×6) was significant too. Rohit delighted the lustily cheering crowd, pulling pacer Eshan Malinga for a six and later swinging leggie Zeeshan Ansari effortlessly for two huge sixes.
With the pitch playing true, it was the Sunrisers bowlers’ turn to put in another insipid show.
In-form Surya Kumar Yadav (40 not out, 19b, 5×4, 2×6) gave the finishing touches to Mumbai’s win with his trademark shots all round the wicket.
Earlier, the classy Heinrich Klaasen batted in a different league (71, 44b, 7×4, 2×6)and put on a crucial 99-run stand for the sixth wicket with the surprise batting hero and ‘Impact Player’ Ahhinav Manohar (43, 37b, 2×4, 3×6) to help the home team, put in to bat, set a modest victory target of 144.
The big guns, Travis Head (0) and Ishan Kishan (1), disappointed. Ishan glanced at pacer Deepak Chahar to wicketkeeper Ryan Rickleton. Initially, the umpire signalled a wide, but on seeing Ishan walking away, changed his decision to give him out (9/2 in 2.1 overs).
Then, Trent Boult dismissed Abhishek Sharma (8), and Chahar saw a struggling Nitish Kumar Reddy (2) hit a length ball straight to mid-on.
The home team scored 24 for four in the power-play, its second worst in the IPL (previously 14/3 in six overs in 2022 against Rajasthan Royals) with Chahar bowling his terrific spell (4-0-12-2) in one stretch.
Then, it was the turn of Mumbai captain and pacer Hardik Pandya to ‘bounce’ out Aniket Verma (12) to make it a miserable 35 for five in 8.3 overs.
‘Player of the match’ Boult’s four-wicket haul (4-0-26-4) was a key factor in restricting Sunrisers to a modest score.
