Young West Indies pacer Alzzari Joseph made a dream Indian Premier League debut by recording the best bowling figures in the tournament’s history as Mumbai Indians picked up a 40-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in a low-scoring game in Hyderabad on Saturday.
Keiron Pollard hammered an unbeaten 46 off 26 balls, helping Mumbai Indians recover to 136/7 after his team got off to an ordinary start.
While Pollard was the stand out batsman, his compatriot Joseph made the difference in the bowling department, ending with sensational figures of 6/12 in 3.4 overs, bettering the effort of Pakistan pacer Sohail Tanvir, who had taken 6/14 in the inaugural IPL edition in 2008. Hyderabad were all out for 96 in 17.4 overs.
It was the third win for Mumbai Indians in five games while Hyderabad suffered their second loss in five matches.
Considering the stellar form of openers David Warner and Jonny Bairstow, 137 was expected to be a comfortable chase for Hyderabad. But they both were dismissed cheaply and that exposed the middle order, which had not been tested much courtesy the devastating run of the openers.
It was the first time this season that Hyderabad lost a wicket in the first six overs. Joseph bowled a dream first over in the IPL, dismissing Warner in what was a wicket maiden. In his following over, the 22-year-old got rid of Vijay Shankar to leave Hyderabad at 43/3 in seven overs and spice up the contest.
Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar picked up two important wickets to increase the pressure on the home team, who were reduced to 62/5 by the 12th over.
The hosts needed 53 off the last 30 balls but ended up well short of the target with Joseph running through the lower order.
Earlier, it seemed Hyderabad would limit Mumbai to a sub-par total before Pollard’s brute power came to the fore, helping the visitors to collect 39 crucial runs off the final 12 balls. Until Pollard cut loose, Hyderabad put up an impressive bowling effort on a slow pitch.
While Hyderabad fielded an unchanged side, Mumbai Indians made two changes in the playing eleven with Ishan Kishan replacing Yuvraj Singh and Joseph coming in for Lasith Malinga, who has gone back to Sri Lanka to play in a domestic event.
It wasn’t the best of starts for Mumbai, who lost captain Rohit Sharma (11) and Suryakumar Yadav (7) early to be reduced to 30/2 in six overs. Rohit was dropped in the first over by Siddarth Kaul but could not make much use of that and holed out at deep mid-wicket off Mohammad Nabi in the fourth over.
Yadav, who had hit a crucial 59 in the previous game against CSK, too did not last long and was adjudged leg before wicket off Sandeep Sharma.
Stroke play was proving to be difficult on a slow surface and the situation became worse for the visitors when the in-form opener Quinton de Kock (19) departed while trying to increase the scoring rate.
The batsmen in particular struggled against Nabi, who ended with envious figures of 1/13 in four overs as Mumbai crawled to 52/3 in 10 overs.
After Nabi completed his full quota of overs, his Afghanistan teammate Rashid Khan made life tough for the opposition batsmen. The Hyderabad pacers – Sandeep Sharma and Kaul – too were up to the task, using their pace well on a slow wicket to stifle the batsmen.
Mumbai’s innings hardly had any flow before Pollard provided the much needed final flourish in the death overs by smashing Kaul for three massive sixes in the 19th over that went for 20 runs.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s final over went for 19 runs with Pollard collecting two fours and a six, giving Mumbai something to bowl at. Poor fielding let Hyderabad down towards the end of the innings.