Mumbai Indians made another storming comeback in a game where they were backfoot to clinch a victory. Sunrisers Hyderabad was on the receiving end on Saturday as they choked in another low-scoring chase. SRH were bundled out for 137 after being set a target of 151 runs by defending champions.
Sunrisers Hyderabad got off to a flying start as Jonny Bairstow went berserk against Trent Boult and Adam Milne. The English batsman scored 43 runs in 22 balls with four sixes and three boundaries. Against the run of play, he was hit wicket, giving a lucky breakthrough to Mumbai Indians.
The momentum swung in Mumbai’s favour after Bairstow’s dismissal as Manish Pandey holed out in the deep, while David Warner was run out through a brilliant piece of fielding by Hardik Pandya. Virat Singh and Abhishek Sharma also had a brief stay on the pitch as Mumbai tightened the screw with tight bowling from Rahul Chahar.
Vijay Shankar managed to release pressure by hitting two sixes against Krunal Pandya in the 17th over. However, Abdul Samad soon returned to the pavilion after an amazing piece of fielding from junior Pandya. Mumbai managed to see out the game in death overs by taking wickets and conceding very few runs in overs from Boult and ever-reliable Jasprit Bumrah.
After winning the toss, Mumbai Indians decided to bat first. A decision like this is bound to happen considering the way games have panned out in Chennai this season. Getting a score around 150 can help in putting pressure on the opposition at this venue in IPL 2021.
Mumbai managed to score exactly 150 despite enjoying a strong start to the innings. Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock came out all guns blazing in the powerplay overs. Mumbai found themselves at 53 for no loss at the end of the sixth over. Sharma soon perished after scoring 32 fluent runs in the powerplay. Vijay Shankar got the better off him with his variations. Surya Kumar Yadav played a couple of good-looking shots before getting undone by Shankar with a slower delivery.
After Yadav’s dismissal, Mumbai struggled to score runs. De Kock and Ishan Kishan struggled to hit boundaries against Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Both of them eventually succumbed under the pressure created by dot balls. Three sixes from Kieron Pollard at the end of the innings helped Mumbai to reach 150. Mumbai has made it two wins out of three in IPL 2021, while SRH languishes bottom of the table with three defeats.
Scorecard
Mumbai Indians: 150/4 (Quinton de Kock 40(39), Kieron Pollard 35(22), Vijay Shankar (2/19), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (2/29))
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 137/10 (Jonny Bairstow 43(22), David Warner 36(34), Rahul Chahar (3/19), Trent Boult (3/28))