Abu Dhabi, (Samajweekly) Mumbai Indians needed a lot of things to go their way in their final league match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Winning the toss and posting a big total, Mumbai were on track to do the unthinkable. But with Sunrisers Hyderabad making 70/1 in power-play meant that Mumbai missed the bus for the playoffs. But that didnt stop the defending champions from defeating the wooden spooners by 42 runs and bow out of IPL 2021 with a win at Sheikh Zayed Stadium here on Friday.
Chasing a mammoth 235, Hyderabad raced to 70/1 in power-play with Jason Roy crunching six boundaries before falling to Trent Boult. In the next over, Abhishek Sharma made 33 off just 16 balls before holing out to deep mid-wicket off James Neesham. Manish Pandey, on his IPL captaincy debut, started off by slamming Krunal Pandya for two boundaries in the seventh over.
But Mumbai continued to make strikes with the ball as Piyush Chawla took out Mohammad Nabi with a googly in the next over. Abdul Samad fell cheaply in the ninth over, holing out to long-on off James Neesham. Pandey stitched a partnership of 56 runs with Priyam Garg before Bumrah took out Garg with a slower delivery in the 16th over.
Though Pandey notched up his half-century, Jason Holder holed out to long-on off Coulter-Nile in the next over. With Rashid Khan and Wriddhiman Saha falling cheaply, Hyd’rabad’s chase was as good as over. Pandey continued to be the lone ranger in a match whose fate was sealed in the first innings.
Earlier, opting to bat first, Mumbai came out all guns blazing, reaching their half-century in 3.4 overs followed by touching the hundred run-mark in 7.1 overs. Ishan Kishan made his intentions clear by slamming a six off Mohammad Nabi off the second ball of the innings. That set the ball rolling for Ishan Kishan as he hit four fours in as many balls against Siddarth Kaul while taking 18 runs in the second over.
Be it Mohammad Nabi, Jason Holder, or Umran Malik, all got some severe thrashing from Kishan. The’youngster’s fireworks continued as he raced to his second consecutive half-century in just 16 balls, the fastest fifty of the tournament. The blazing opening partnership of 80 runs was broken by Rashid Khan in the final over of power-play as Sharma top-edged a pull to a tumbling square leg.
After power-play ended at 83/1, Kishan continued with the carnage, hitting a four and six off Malik followed by slog-sweeping Rashid Khan in the next over. Hyderabad enforced a slowdown in the middle overs as Hardik Pandya holed out off Holder in the ninth over. In the next over, Malik put an e’d to Kishan’s astonishing knock, which looked like a video game panning out in real, nicking behind to the keeper. Three overs later, Abhishek Sharma picked wickets off successive deliveries as Kieron Pollard picked out the fielder in ‘etween the ‘V’, followed by James Neesham spooning a catch to cover.
In between, Yadav slammed boundaries all over the ground at will and with panache despite losing batters from the other end. Yadav reached his fifty with a loft straight down the ground off Kaul. He went on to slam boundaries against Kaul and Holder followed by a hat-trick of fours off Malik in the 19th over. Holder took out Piyush Chawla and Yadav in the final over to concede just five runs but the match by then had gone be’ond Hyderabad’s reach.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 235/9 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 84, Suryakumar Yadav 82, Jason Holder 4/52, Abhishek Sharma 2/4) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 193/8 in 20 overs (Manish Pandey 69 not out, Jason Roy 34, James Neesham 2/28, Jasprit Bumrah 2/39) by 42 runs
