Reigning Indian Premier League champions Mumbai Indians failed to reach the playoff despite a 42-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Needing to win by 171 runs to qualify, Mumbai racked up 235-9 batting first, thanks to Ishan Kishan’s 84 and Suryakumar Yadav’s 82. They then needed to bowl out their opponents for less than 65.
But Sunrisers cruised past that target as they added 64 for the first wicket, with England’s Jason Roy making 34.
Once that important number was passed, with nothing to play for but pride, the run rate climbed too much for Sunrisers’ batters to get anywhere near the imposing total.
Stand-in captain Manish Pandey hit 68 not out but his side lost wickets at regular intervals throughout their innings.
The result means that Kolkata Knight Riders, led by England white-ball captain Eoin Morgan, go through in fourth place thanks to a superior net run-rate.
The loss completes an IPL campaign to forget for Sunrisers – who were without their captain Kane Williamson because of injury – as they finished bottom of the table with just three wins.
In Friday’s other fixture that concluded the group stages, Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Delhi Capitals by seven wickets. Glenn Maxwell finished with 51 not out but Srikar Bharat’s unbeaten 78 sealed the win for RCB as he hit a six from the final ball when five runs were needed to win.
The result was irrelevant, however, as both teams’ final position in the table had already been secured – Delhi finishing top and Virat Kohli’s RCB in third.
Kishan goes big – but not big enough
As Mumbai won their match, opener Kishan’s blistering innings was so remarkable that team-mate Suryakumar went almost unnoticed – despite scoring 82.
The task was enormous for Mumbai, but Kishan had evidently been given a licence to swing the bat and he delivered.
From ball one, he delivered one blow after another, showing no mercy to Sunrisers’ bowlers, who had no answers to his powerful strokeplay.
He raced to his half-century from just 16 balls – the fastest of this year’s IPL.
Mumbai’s scoring stalled after his dismissal – especially with Kieron Pollard and Jimmy Neesham falling in consecutive deliveries.
Suryakumar picked up where his team-mate left off, and displayed a death overs masterclass that included 13 fours and three sixes as Mumbai reached their mammoth total of 235, but still fell short of the play-offs.
That will be a disappointment for the team who won the IPL in 2019 and 2020 – but this performance was a glimpse of the five-time champions at their destructive best. (IPL)
