Mumbai, Mumbai Indians rode opener Quinton de Kock’s valiant knock of 69 (unbeaten) off 58 balls to post 162/5 in 20 overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their return fixture of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Thursday.
Despite getting little support from the other end, de Kock kept his cool and helped the three-time champions reach a respectable total. The opener’s knock contained six boundaries and two hits into the stands.
Opting to bat, Mumbai were off to a decent but cautious start with scoreboard reading 26/0 in the initial three overs. While Rohit Sharma (24 off 18) clobbered Hyderabad bowlers, de Kock played second fiddle to the Mumbai captain.
Khaleel Ahmed drew the first blood for his side and sent back a dangerous looking Rohit in the sixth over, leaving Mumbai at 36/1. The Mumbai skipper played an overambitious pull-shot on a delivery that bounced a bit more and popped up in the air only to be caught by Mohammed Nabi at mid-on.
Incoming batsman Suryakumar Yadav (23 off 17) and de Kock then tried to repair the early damage, adding 54 runs for the second wicket. Just when the home side were approaching the three-digit mark, Khaleel struck again to break the partnership. He cut short Suryakumar’s stay in the middle, reducing Mumbai to 90/2 in 11.2 overs.
Nabi spelled further trouble for Mumbai and just after the addition of a run, he packed back Evin Lewis (1 off 6) in the 13th over.
Hardik Pandya then played a quick 10-ball 18, with the help of a four and a six. But the Mumbai all-rounder failed to spend much time in the middle as Bhuvneshwar Kumar applied brakes on his innings in the 16th over, with Mumbai placed at 119/4.
Kieron Pollard (10 off 9) and de Kock then shared a short 32-run partneship for the fifth wicket, helping their side cross the 150-run mark in 18.5 overs. Pollard was dismissed in the final over by Khaleel before Krunal Pandya chipped in with an unbeaten 9 off three balls as Mumbai reached a fighting total.
For the visitors, Khaleel bagged three wickets for 42 runs and Bhuvneshwar and Nabi got one wicket each.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 162/5 (Quinton de Kock 69, Rohit Sharma 24; Khaleel Ahmed 3/42) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad.
