Mumbai Indians (MI) registered their third win of the season after they beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 34 runs in Match 17 of the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Electing to bat, MI lost their skipper in the first over after Rohit Sharma edged one to the wicketkeeper off Sandeep Sharma’s bowling.
After SRH bowled two tight overs to start the proceedings, Suryakumar Yadav, who joined Quinton de Kock in the middle after Rohit’s dismissal, hit three crisp fours while de Kock hit his first in the third over bowled by Siddarth Kaul.
But the change of ends did the trick for Kaul as he got Suryakumar Yadav out in the sixth over to complete his 50 IPL wickets.
Q de Kock then got two reprieves in the space of two overs. First, in the seventh over, Manish Pandey could not hold on to a catch on the boundary rope and in the eighth over, Rashid Khan almost had him bowled after failing to time the reverse sweep.
The MI wicketkeeper-batsman then went after Samad in the ninth over, hitting a six and a four, to push his side past 80.
While MI played out a few quiet overs, Ishan Kishan and de Kock, who brought up his maiden fifty of the IPL 2020, went after Kane Williamson and Kaul to score 32 runs in the next two overs with the help of three sixes and a four.
But Rashid, who was brought back into the attack in the 13th over, held on to a fine catch, while running towards mid-wicket, on his own bowling to end the 78-run partnership, dismissing de Kock for 64.
Hardik Pandya then hit a six and a four to announce his arrival, but SRH managed to strike in the 15th over after Manish grabbed an absolute stunner in the deep, running towards his right before diving to complete an outstanding catch, to end Kishan’s innings.
Hardik and Kieron Pollard then added 41 runs in the 4.2 overs before the former got out off Kaul’s bowling. However, Krunal Pandya, who replaced his brother in the middle, went 6,4,4,6 on the last four deliveries of the innings as MI posted 208/5 on the board.
Needing 209 runs to win, Jonny Bairstow set the ball rolling for SRH in the chase, hitting Trent Boult for a six and followed it up two fours in the second over bowled by James Pattinson.
MI introduced spin early in the defence of 208 and Bairstow cracked one more six in the third over bowled by Krunal. But MI managed to end the Bairstow show in the fifth over as Boult dismissed the SRH opener for 25.
Manish announced his arrival to the batting crease in style, hitting two crisp fours in the space of 5 balls before Warner joined the four-hitting party in the final over of the powerplay, hitting two fours off Jasprit Bumrah. Manish, then added one more four to his tally to take SRH to 55/1.
Krunal then bowled a three-run over and the pressure he applied in the seventh over, almost paid off in the next over. But Hardik dropped a catch near the boundary rope as Manish got a reprieve.
The Warner-Manish pair then took on Rahul Chahar in the ninth over, hitting a six each to complete a 50-run partnership in under 30 balls. But Pattinson struck in the 10th over to get Manish out for 30.
Warner, then pushed SRH past 100, hitting a six and a four off Krunal in the 11th over. The SRH skipper brought up his first half-century of the IPL 2020 in the next over as his side moved to 115/2.
MI brought back Boult into the attack and the move paid dividends as the left-arm pacer dismissed Williamson – his national team captain – with a slower delivery for 3 in the 13th over.
Priyam Garg got out for 8 after Chahar hold on to a fine catch near the boundary rope to give Krunal his second wicket of the match.
By the end of the 15th over, SRH were 139/4 and needed 70 off the last five overs.
Pattinson then landed a big blow as he got his compatriot and SRH skipper – Warner – out for 60 after Ishan Kishan held on to a stunning diving catch at the short third-man.
SRH scored 14 in the 17th over as Samad hit a six and a four off Bumrah to bring down the target to 51 off the last three overs. But Boult, bringing all his experience into play, conceded just 4 runs in the 18th over.
While Samad hit a six on the first ball of the penultimate over bowled by Bumrah, he got out on the next delivery. The right-arm pacer, then hit the woodwork to end Abhishek Sharma’s innings.
Pollard bowled the last over, with SRH needing 37 runs to win, and the West Indian all-rounder conceded just two runs as MI beat SRH by 34 runs to add two more points to their account. (IPL)
