Sunrisers Hyderabad's Khaleel Ahmed
Mumbai Indians staged a remarkable turnaround to defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 13 runs and clinch the top spot in the points table on Saturday. A 67-run opening partnership between David Warner and Jonny Bairstow laid the foundation but it wasn't enough to hand SRH their first victory of the season.
While Warner anchored the innings with 36 off 34 deliveries, Bairstow hit a blistering 22-ball 43, laced with 3 fours and 4 maximums. It looked like Bairstow and Warner would've no issues in finishing the game for the Hyderbad outfit until the former walked back after getting out hit-wicket. The pair added 57 in the first six overs, negating the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult in the powerplay.
However, things changed quickly for SRH in the last five overs. Vijay Shankar, who slammed back-to-back sixes off Krunal Pandya at one point in the game, offered some resistance and stayed until the penultimate over but wickets kept falling at the other end. And from 90 for three in 11.3 overs, SRH lost seven wickets in a space of 49 balls for just 47 runs, Shankar scoring 28 off 25.
On the bowling front, Rahul Chahar and Trent Boult picked three wickets each while Jasprit Bumrah and Krunal Pandya added one each to their name. "I don't know how to take that. Obviously disappointing. Two of us were set but it proves that if you don't bat deep, you can't win," said a dejected Warner as SRH recorded their worst-ever start in IPL history.
Earlier, Kieron Pollard's late flourish helped Mumbai post a competitive total on the scoreboard. The West Indies dasher hit a 22-ball 35 which included two maximums off the last two balls of the innings. He even smoked a 105-meter six -- the biggest of the tournament so far -- to provide the impetus to the batting unit.
After winning the toss, Mumbai started off well with skipper Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock's 55-run opening stand. Rohit completed 4000 T20 runs as a skipper and also surpassed MS Dhoni's record of hitting the most number of sixes by an Indian in the tournament.
Vijay Shankar, however, pulled SRH back into the contest by taking wickets of Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav (10) in his two overs. Losing two men in quick succession scaled down MI's run-flow as Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman spun it effectively.
Pollard and Ishan Kishan (11 off 21) stuck in the middle before the latter was dismissed by Mujeeb. Hardik Pandya, the next man in, holed out to Virat Singh as Mumbai floundered towards the end. Pollard hit two sixes off the last two deliveries of the innings to take MI to 150 for five in 20 overs For SRH, Shankar (2/19), Mujeeb (2/29) and Khaleel Ahmed (1/24) were the successful bowlers.
