IPL 8, SRH vs MI: Mumbai Indians knock out Sunrisers, to meet CSK in play-offs
Hyderabad: With a spot in the play-offs at stake, the match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians was supposed to be a boxing bout. Both sides came out with their respective strategies. While the hosts believed in single strikes, Mumbai had double blows on mind — boom-boom. They landed them at timely intervals too to knock the stuffing out of a hapless Hyderabad outfit on Sunday night.
Mumbai clearly packed a punch, pounding the poor hosts who tottered through the innings, barely managing to stand upright. By the end of the first session, SRH were down on the mat with a mere 113 to defend. Mumbai overhauled the target losing just one wicket with 6.1 overs to spare as Parthiv Patel (51 n.o) and Lendl Simmons (48) put on an impressive opening stand of 106.
While Mumbai saved their best for the last, SRH did just the opposite.The hosts got off to the worst possible start, losing both their high-profile openers in a flash. Seven minutes, an equal number of balls and as many runs is what it took Mumbai to silence the dangerous duo of Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner.
The former was cleaned up by a malicious Malinga thunderbolt that rattled his stumps while the latter top-edged Mitchell McClenaghan for Kieron Pollard to pouch a comfortable catch right behind the wicket off the next ball.
A natural lull followed the departure of the SRH top two as Moises Henriques and Eoin Morgan took their time to recover from the double blow. But just as the hosts looked like getting a foothold, they were staggered by another McClenaghan punch — Morgan caught by Lendl Simmons at third man.
The teams played ring-a-round for a while before Mumbai landed another double blow — Moises and Naman Ojha fell to the left hooks of spinner Jagadeesha Suchith. Midway through their innings, the Sunrisers were 51 for 5, gasping!
A brief partnership of 23 for the seventh wicket between Karn Sharma and Ashish Reddy provided the balm for the badly bruised bodies. It was during this period that local lad Ashish went down on his knee to slam Harbhajan Singh into the stands for a six in the 15th over to lift the home spirits, only just.
He was soon gone, caught by Vinay off a Pollard delivery whose legitimacy could be deliberated. Sticking to the ‘twin strike’ pattern McClenaghan struck from the other end to claim Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The aggressors were well and truly into the tail by this time, and trampled on it to ensure there was no twist in it.
Scorecard
Sunrisers Hyderabad: D. Warner c Pollard b McClenaghan 6, S. Dhawan b Malinga 1, M. Henriques st Patel b Suchith 11, E. Morgan c Simmons b McClenaghan 9, KL Rahul b Harbhajan 25, N. Ojha c Sharma b Suchith 0, Karn Sharma c Suchith b Malinga 15, A. Ashish Reddy c Vinay b Pollard 17, B. Kumar c Pandya b McClenaghan 0, P. Kumar (run out) 4, D. Steyn (not out) 19. Extras (lb2, w4) 6. Total (in 20 overs) 113.
FoW: 1-7, 2-7, 3-23, 4-51, 5-51, 6-61, 7-84, 8-86, 9-91,
Bowling: Malinga 4-0-17-2, McClenaghan 4-0-16-3, Vinay 3-0-21-0, Suchith 3-0-14-2, Pandya 1-0-11-0, Harbhajan 3-0-18-1, Pollard 2-0-14-1.
Mumbai Indians: L. Simmons c Dhawan b Sharma 48, P. Patel (not out) 51, R. Sharma 7 (not out). Extras (b-1, lb-2, w-5). 8. Total (for one wicket in 13.5 overs) 114. FoW: 1-106.
Bowling: D. Steyn 3-0-27-0, B. Kumar 3-0-27-0, P. Kumar 2-0-13-0, M. Henriques 3-0-17-0, K. Sharma 2.5-0-38-1.
SRH XI: D Warner, S Dhawan, M Henriques, N Ojha, L Rahul, E Morgan, AA Reddy, K Sharma, P Kumar, B Kumar, D Steyn
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 17, 2015Both sides have 14 points each from 13 matches and a win in their last league match tomorrow at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal is a must for either team to qualify for the play-offs.
MI XI: L Simmons, P Patel, H Pandya, RG Sharma, A Rayudu, K Pollard, H Singh, J Suchith, L Malinga, V Kumar, M McClenaghan
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 17, 2015