Sunrisers Hyderabad coasted to a 7-wicket win at home against table-toppers Mumbai Indians on Monday to get one step closer to sealing a place in the Indian Premier League qualifiers.
A combined effort from the bowlers led by Siddarth Kaul (3/23) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/29) put the brakes on Mumbai’s scoring rate. However, it was the returning Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi’s (1/13) miserly early spell that got the ball rolling for the defending champions. The ever-consistent Rashid Khan bowled yet another economical spell as skipper Rohit Sharma (67 from 45 balls) waged a lone battle to steer his team to 139/7.
During SRH’s chase, Shikhar Dhawan (62* from 46) was in fine touch and stitched a match-winning 91-run second wicket stand against Moises Henriques to steer his team home with 10 balls to spare. This was also SRH’s sixth win at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium.
The result also meant that Delhi Daredevils’ quest for a spot in the playoffs came to an end. Kings XI Punjab’s fortunes now hinge on SRH’s final game, which will be against Gujarat Lions. For Glenn Maxwell’s side to progress past the group stages, they need to win all of their remaining games while hoping that that the reigning champions lose their final encounter.
Dhawan blazes away, Henriques anchors
Dhawan has not endured a good run in India colours in the recent past. The southpaw lost his place in the Test team to KL Rahul. The Delhi batsman also suffered with a few injury problems. He has quietly redeemed himself in this IPL season, effortlessly switching gears and sticking to what he does best – flicking off his pads and driving elegantly through cover.
The early departure of David Warner had little effect on proceedings as Dhawan and Moises Henriques calmly went about with their task and knocked off the runs with little fuss. The batsmen maintained a steady run-rate and brought up 91 runs for the second wicket in just 66 balls. Mumbai’s fate was sealed by the time Henrqiues was dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah.
Yuvraj’s injury scare
The 35-year-old, being the ever-committed fielder, made an excellent effort to save a couple of runs for his side. However, he hurt his little finger in the process and had to walk off the field for treatment. When Yuvraj Singh came on to bat, he was seen wincing in pain after blocking off his first few deliveries.
After rejecting offers from SRH coaches Tom Moody and VVS Laxman to walk off the field, Yuvraj stayed on, battled through the pain, but couldn’t knock off the winning runs. The Punjab batsman’s injury may have played a part in him failing to clear the ropes off Lasith Malinga, holing out to Hardik Pandya at deep cover for a 11-ball nine. The problem might not just end there as India would be monitoring the southpaw’s fitness over the next few days as he has been picked for his country’s squad for the Champions Trophy.
The Nabi experiment
It was a brave move by the SRH team management to drop New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson and draft in Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi. The home side used the 30-year-old services in the powerplay overs, a ploy that reaped rich dividends.
It had rained before the start of the game. Whether that had a role to play is debatable but Nabi was getting sharp turn, especially away from left-handers Nitish Rana and Parthiv Patel. Rana in particular, had a torrid time trying to rotate the strike.
Nabi got the ball rolling by breaching the defence of Lendl Simmons. In his final over, Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya struggled with Nabi’s off-spin, managing to milk out only five runs off it.
Can Rashid Khan be kept out of action? He finished with yet another fine spell, conceding just 21 runs and picking up the wicket of Hardik Pandya.
The helmet incident
There was an incident in the in the seventh over that left umpires Marais Erasmus and K Ananthapadmanabhan perplexed: Rohit Sharma attempted a pull off a Siddarth Kaul bouncer. The batsman completely was beaten for pace and the ball crashed onto his helmet and bobbed up in the air and was caught by the onrushing cover fielder.
The SRH players were convinced that the Mumbai skipper was out. Ananthapadmanabhan, though, looked like a deer staring at headlights: Torn between making up his mind, asking Erasmus and using the help of the third umpire, the latter of which he realised he couldn’t have even if he wanted to.
Ananthapadmanabhan finally made finally made his decision and Warner wasn’t best pleased with the decision. However, replays showed that the umpire had indeed made the right decision.
‘Hitman’ to the rescue
It was not the easiest of starts for Rohit Sharma. He survived the aforementioned scare against a peach of a delivery by Kaul, and was bamboozled by Rashid Khan.
With his team desperately needing runs – they could manage only 59 from the first 10 overs – the 30-year-old targeted Moises Henriques and Mohammed Siraj. SRH’s talisman, Bhuvneshwar Kumar also took a hammering from Sharma’s blade, bringing up his 32nd fifty in the IPL. The impressive Kaul finally dismissed him, albeit with some luck as the ball ricocheted off Sharma’s pad and rolled onto the stumps.
Brief score:
- Mumbai Indians 138/7 in 20 Overs (Rohit Sharma 67, Parthiv Patel 23; Siddarth Kaul 3/23, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/29) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad 140/3 in 18.2 Overs (Shikhar Dhawan 62 not out, Moises Henriques 44; Jasprit Bumrah 1/24) by 7 wickets
