Hyderabad: Mumbai Indians crushed Sunrisers Hyderabad by nine wickets in a must-win final league game to sail into play-offs of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament, here on Sunday.
Asked to bowl, Mumbai first came up with an impressive effort to bowl out Sunrisers for just 113 and then chased down the target with consummate ease with nine wickets in hand and 37 balls to spare.
By virtue of this win, Mumbai jumped to the second spot in the standings with 16 points from 14 games and will now face table toppers Chennai Super Kings in the Qualifier 1 at Mumbai on Tuesday.
Third-placed Royal Challengers Bangalore will meet Rajasthan Royals in the eliminator at Pune on Wednesday.
Chasing the modest paltry target, Mumbai finished at 114 for the loss of just one wicket in 13.5 overs.
With no pressure on the back, both Parthiv and Simmons played freely. While Parthiv smashed an unbeaten 51 off 37 balls with the help of nine boundaries, Simmons was unlucky as he was dismissed just two short of his fifty.
Simmons made 48 off 44 balls and decorated his innings with four boundaries and two sixes before being caught by Shikhar Dhawan off Karn Sharma's (1/38) bowling with Mumbai just needing eight runs for the win.
Skipper Rohit Sharma finished off the proceedings without any further damage, remaining unbeaten on 7.
But the credit for the victory should go to Mumbai's bowling attack which dished out a clinical display to bundle out Sunrisers Hyderabad for a modest 113.
Left-arm pacer Mitchell McClenaghan (3/16) led Mumbai's bowling attack from the front and he was assisted well by left-arm spinner Jagadeesha Suchith (2/14) and Lasith Malinga (2/17).
Electing to bat, Sunrisers were put on the backfoot straightway by Mumbai as the hosts lost both their openers—Dhawan (1) and skipper David Warner (6) -- early in consecutive balls.
While Dhawan's off stump was rattled by Malinga's slinging yorker in the last delivery of the first over, Warner top-edged a McClenaghan's well-directed short ball to Kieron Pollard as Sunrisers slumped to seven for two in 1.1 overs.
