CHRIS DHAMBARAGE
COLOMBO – Former champions Mumbai Indians (MI) powered their way to a comfortable 14-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 25th match played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, Hyderabad on Tuesday.
MI rattled up a formidable 192 for five from their 20 overs after they were put into bat and then bowled out their opponents for 178 in the last over to record their third successive victory of the 2023 IPL season.
Chasing 193, SRH were jolted early as Jason Behrendorff sent back the in-form Harry Brook in the second over. Brook was looking in good touch having cracked a couple of fours, including one off the previous delivery but Behrendorff hit back hard to bounce out the England batter off the next ball.
The Australian pacer came back to have Rahul Tripathi caught behind in his next over to reduce SRH to 25 for two. MI bowled with discipline and conceded just four fours and a six in the Powerplay to restrict the home team to 42 for two in the first six overs.
With 43 needed off 18, Washington Sundar hit a couple of fours off Behrendorff and then Behrendorff conceded five wides. But a moment of brilliance from Tim David saw him run out Washington before Bhuvneshwar Kumar hit the final ball of the roller-coaster over for a four to make it 19 off it.
Rohit Sharma handed the ball to Arjun Tendulkar to bowl the last over. And the youngster held his nerve, nailed his yorkers, picked up his maiden IPL wicket, that of Bhuvneshwar, and conceded just five runs in a superb last over as SRH were bowled out for 178.
Earlier, Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan provided early momentum for the MI innings but they lost the captain inside the Powerplay.
Cameron Green though kept the momentum going as he took on Natarajan and smacked three fours and a six to crack 20 runs off the over and bring up his maiden IPL fifty off 33 balls.
Green and Tim David finished well with 14 off the last over from Natarajan to propel MI to a match winning total of 192 for five.
Chief scores
Mumbai Indians: 192/5 in 20 overs (Cameron Green 64 n.o, Ishan Kishan 38, Tilak Verma 37, Rohit Sharma 28, Marco Jansen 2/43)
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 178 in 19.5 overs (Mayank Agarwal 48, Heinrich Klaasen 36, Riley Meredith 2/33, Jason Behrenhdorff 2/37, Piyush Chawla 2/43).
