A fine bowling performance and some gritty batting by their lower-order helped Mumbai Indians earn a tricky four-wicket win over defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.
Chasing a target of 159, the hosts completed the win with eight balls to spare. Harbhajan Singh picked up two back to back wickets including the crucial wicket of David Warner before some clinical bowling in the death by Jasprit Bumrah helped Mumbai restrict Sunrisers to 158.
In reply, Mumbai Indians were stretched, but never looked distressed as they rode on a partnership by lower order batsmen Krunal Pandya and Nitish Rana who dominated the Sunrisers bowlers who struggled to contend with the dew.
David Warner leads from the front, with support from Shikhar Dhawan
Sunrisers Hyderabad openers David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan have shared quite a partnership over the years at the franchise. It was the latter who was the skipper of the team and Warner just a teammate. The roles were soon exchanged with Warner’s stock in international cricket shot up.
When it comes to the IPL, though, these aspects have hardly mattered. The two have forged a successful opening partnership in the past few seasons. Their knocks have always laid the base from where the Sunrisers launch. It wasn’t any different on Wednesday as Sunrisers visited Mumbai.
The two started their knock cautiously. Opening the bowling, Harbhajan Singh was on top of things. Lasith Malinga was also bowling at good pace. Warner and Dhawan, though kept their wits about themselves and plotted a stable 81-run partnership for the opening wicket.
Warner was the one who took the role of the aggressor and smashed Harbhajan for back to back boundaries to make his intent clear. The Australian mixed up his shots well to keep the scoreboard ticking without allowing the Mumbai bowlers to overpower them.
It wasn’t until the seventh over that the Sunrisers looked to have gotten the measure of their opponent’s bowling attack. Dhawan, who had been playing a patient innings till then, took the attack to Mumbai bowlers.
The beauty of the partnership was that both players preferred to hit proper cricketing shot for a large part of their stay at the crease. Aiming for gaps was a priority. It was only when they went against this ploy did they falter.
Warner departed one short of his half-century after trying to get a switch-hit in off Harbhajan, while Dhawan fell for 48 trying to slog one over mid-wicket.
Was that out or not?
Hardik Pandya’s first over, in the eighth over of the Sunrisers’ batting innings, gave rise to some drama. Dhawan looked to have been dismissed just as his stand with Warner had crossed the 50-run mark.
Dhawan, looking to loft one over the in-field, but could not get past Krunal Pandya at mid-off, who put in a diving effort and claimed to have completed the catch.
The on-field umpires, Nitin Menon and CK Nandan, however, didn’t seem to be convinced with the catch and referred the call to the third umpire. Replays did not quite reveal much, but it appeared that the ball might have just bounced of the ground and stuck in the elbow area of Krunal, his body blocking the view for the umpire to make a clear call. The third umpire, eventually gave the ‘benefit of doubt’ to Dhawan, who received a lucky reprieve.
Harbhajan & Co pull things back well for Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma was ready to be bold in his captaincy on Wednesday. After electing to bowl first after winning the toss, he handed the new ball to spinner Harbhajan Singh. The off-spinners was on top of things from early on. Along with Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan gave his side a good start. But, as Warner and Dhawan began stitching together a steady partnership, it became increasingly clear that something would have to give.
It was Harbhajan, who gave Mumbai the breakthrough as Warner perished trying to be cheeky and attempting a switch-hit. The turbanator, struck immediately as number three batsman Deepak Hooda was tempted into taking the aerial route only to be caught in the deep.
The quick wickets zapped the wind from SRH’s sails. Dhawan soon followed suit as he was bowled out by Mitchell McCleneghan. Malinga, Hardik chipped in with a wicket each, before Jasprit Bumrah’s clinical death bowling saw him pick up three wickets.
SRH could only manage to score 18 runs in the last three overs. They lost 7 wickets in the last 53 runs finishing with 158.
Afghan teenager Rashid gets big fish Rohit
Rohit Sharma, who underwent a surgery on knee, last played for India in October. With the Champions Trophy to follow immediately after the IPL, it is crucial for him to get some big scores on the board. Luck though has not been on his side. Looking to make a comeback into the Indian team, Rohit would have hoped for the IPL to be a good platform for him to stage his return journey.
It has not quite panned out in that way for the Mumbai batsman. Rohit came into the game on Wednesday with scores of 2 and 3 in the previous two games. Adding insult to the low scores was the fact the right-hand batsman was even reprimanded for showing his displeasure after a contentious decision had brought about his dismissal.
The 29-year-old’s fortunes did not change on Wednesday as he fell for four after becoming a prized scalp for Afghan teenager Rashid Khan.
The leg-spinner, who has been impressive in his two games so far in the tournament, added another feather in his cap after completely bamboozling the Mumbai Indians skipper.
He bowled a googly right outside off. It came into Rohit who seemed to have played for a straightforward legbreak. the ball just missed the inside edge and found him plumb in front of the stumps.
Rashid finished with figures of 1/19 to maintain his impressive run in the IPL.
Mumbai stretched, but get over the line comfortably
After the initial stutter that saw Rohit Sharma and Jos Butler depart with 41 on the board, it was Parthiv Patel and Nitish Rana, who steadied their innings. The duo added 38 runs to take Mumbai to 79, but Parthiv could not keep his wits about him as he fell for 39 trying to up the ante.
To their credit, Sunrisers bowlers, produced a fine performance as they not only battled the opposition, but also the elements. The prevailing dew was taking its toll on the bowlers, but the defending champions were not going to let the game slip without a fight.
At 111/4, there was just a tinge of uncertainty. Sunrisers had their tails up and could spot an opening. But Mumbai’s heroes from the previous game - Nitish Rana and Krunal Pandya spared them further hiccups and steered them to victory.
It was Rana’s third successive 30-plus score in the IPL so far. Krunal, who had impressed with three-wickets against KKR, turned up the heat with the bat this time. The Baroda all-rounder scored 37, while Rana finished on 45.
Brief scores
- Sunrisers Hyderabad 158/8 (Shikhar Dhawan 48, David Warner 49; Harbhajan Singh 2/23, Jasprit Bumrah 3/24) lost to Mumbai Indians 159/6 (Parthiv Patel 39, Krunal Pandya 37, Nitish Rana 45; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/21) by four wickets.