It was one of those low scoring games at the Wankhede and on a day when Sachin Tendulkar celebrated his birthday, it wasn’t quite the gift he desired. Sunrisers Hyderabad pounced on sorry Mumbai Indians handing them a deafening blow with qualification hopes for the Indian Premier League playoffs now in doubts.
MI batted poorly against an SRH line-up that did not have talismans Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Billy Stanlake. But that did not deter the visitors as they bundled out Rohit Sharma’s men for a forgettable 87/10. In pursuit of 119 runs, MI would have thought it was a perfect opportunity for them to clinch their 2nd win of the season, but it wasn’t to be so.
Suryakumar Yadav top scored with 30 runs as the rest of the batsmen did not show a sense of responsibility. Credit to the SRH bowlers for stepping up to the task and coming together in a collective measure. The win helped SRH win their fourth match of IPL 2018 and end a third successive defeat on the road.
#SRH beat #MumbaiIndians by 31 runs at the Wankhede Stadium.#MIvSRH #VIVOIPL pic.twitter.com/0arkDCHblc
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 24, 2018
STAT ATTACK
- Mumbai Indians’ 87 run-inning is the lowest score in IPL 2018.
- SRH’s 118 in the first innings was the lowest before that.
- This is SRH’s first win at the Wankhede in its fourth attempt.
- Rashid Khan (2/11) bowled the most economical spell of IPL 2018.
- This was his 5th wicket against MI in two matches this season.
- SRH took a 7-5 lead in overall meetings against MI.
- This was only the third match in IPL in which all 20 wickets fell.
- This was also the 2nd lowest total defended in IPL.
Rashid Khan rolls back to greatness
He had two off-colored games in which SRH lost as he was plundered for plenty of runs. But the world’s best Twenty20 bowler came back in style. The Afghan spinner was once again back to his best after conceding only 11 runs besides picking two wickets in a four over-spell.
His maiden against Hardik Pandya was the turning point which came in the 17th over of MI’s innings. This showed the confidence he enjoyed on the pitch as he bowled 16 dot balls. Earlier he had bowled 18 against the same opponents when SRH won the tie in Hyderabad. That makes it 34 dot balls in eight overs against MI. Mind blowing, isn’t it?
The sensational youngster got the key wickets of Krunal Pandya (24) and Kieron Pollard (9) which in turn destroyed the hosts.
SRH bowlers come together
It was one of the best collective bowling performances ever in the IPL. Siddarth Kaul was the pick of the bowlers and showed a lot of purpose and hunger in his 3/18. His LBW dismissal of Mitchell McClenaghan was spot on as it hit the middle-stump. That, in turn, gave us the glimpse of how accurate he bowled.
Basil Thampi impressed in his first match and staked a claim for a regular spot. Two wickets for just four runs in 1.5 overs summed up a show where the pacer bowled with great pace mixed with the perfect line and length. Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Nabi and Sandeep Sharma also were amongst the wickets.
The collective performance in defending a paltry total makes one believe the trust they had amongst each other.
Same old issues for MI
This IPL hasn’t quite gone for MI and their batsmen and Tuesday was no different. Mumbai have bowled well throughout which in turn helped them come close to winning games, but this time they were decimated way earlier. MI bowlers had earlier bowled superbly to shut down SRH batsmen.
The likes of Mayank Markande, Mustafizur Rahman and Mitchell McClenaghan all stood out for the hosts with some great show of character. But the batting is what let them down completely. Rohit Sharma was dismissed for two runs as he has managed only 140 from six matches.
Hardik Pandya’s batting display on Tuesday hit a new low. Pandya was stuck at the crease and never had a move on against any of the bowlers. He looked uncomfortable against SRH bowlers and the maiden from Rashid was a body blow. Three runs from 19 deliveries in a chase in T20s showed how good the SRH bowlers were in containing Pandya.