Mumbai beat Hyderabad in IPL tie
Mumbai, April 13 (IANS) Mumbai Indians dominated with both bat and ball to defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by four wickets in an Indian Premier League (IPL) clash at the Wankhede Stadium here on Wednesday.
Choosing to field on winning the toss, Mumbai restricted SRH to 158/8 in 20 overs and then achieved the target in 18.4 overs losing six wickets along the way.
Nitish Rana played a crucial role for Mumbai with a 36-ball 45 which included three boundaries and two sixes.
He produced a 48-run partnership along with Krunal Pandya which came off 21 balls.
Pandya scored 37 runs off 20 deliveries which included three boundaries and an equal number of sixes.
Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the most successful among the SRH bowlers with figures of 3/21 Ashish Nehra, Deepak Hooda and Rashid Khan got a wicket each.
While Parthiv Patel and Jos Buttler gave Mumbai a good start with a 28-run opening partnership in three overs, Ashish Nehra struck the first blow for the visitors when he bowled Buttler with the first ball of the fourth over.
Buttler had come down the track to a slower ball from Nehra but was outfoxed by the change of pace. The English batsman had scored 14 off 111 deliveries with three hits to the fence.
Rohit Sharma could score only four runs from as many balls before Rashid Khan trapped him leg before in the next over.
Patel was the next to go, caught by Bhuvneshwar while attempting to hit Hooda down the ground.
Patel, who seemed to be in excellent touch, scored 39 runs from 24 deliveries which included seven boundaries.
West Indies powerhouse Kieron Pollard did not last long, producing a run-a-ball 11 before pulling a shortish Bhuvneshwar delivery into the hands of Shikhar Dhawan at square leg.
However, Pandya joined Rana in the middle and the duo ensured victory with some steady batting.
Although Bhuvneshwar dismissed both in the 18th over, it was enough to secure victory for SRH.
Earlier, SRH squandered a great start before falling apart to post 158/8.
From a comfortable 105/1 after the 13th over, the visitors lost seven wickets within a span of 53 runs to completely lose the track in the slog overs.
Put in to bat, Sunrisers were off to a steady start with skipper David Warner (49) and Shikhar Dhawan (48) putting on 81 runs before the Australian fell one short of his half century.
Mumbai started well with the experienced Harbhajan Singh and Sri Lankan Lasith Malinga giving away just five runs from the first couple of overs.
Warner broke the shackles in the third over with two consecutive boundaries off Harbhajan before milking Malinga for another two after the Sri Lankan changed ends.
Dhawan, who by now had faced 16 balls for his seven runs, opened up with two fours and a six off Australian pacer Mitchell McClenagan as Hyderabad crossed the 50-run mark in the eighth over.
Coming back for his second spell, Harbhajan’s first ball was powerfully muscled over the third man boundary by a right-handed Warner for a mammoth six before the 36-year-old tweaker came back strongly the very next ball to dismiss the Aussie.
Warner, who had faced 34 balls and struck seven boundaries and two sixes by then, got a top-edge while attempting another reverse-sweep as wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel dived full length to complete a stunning catch at short point.
Two overs later, Harbhajan returned to bowl his final over and struck first ball with the wicket of Hooda (9), caught by Pollard at long-on.
In the very next over, McClenaghan provided the vital breakthrough in the form of a set Dhawan, crashing his leg-stump with a full toss after the southpaw faced 43 balls and sent the ball five times to the fence and once over it.
Next in, Yuvraj Singh (5) failed to recreate the magic he produced in the opening match of this IPL against the Royal Challengers Bangalore when he played on a short of length delivery from Hardik Pandya.
Aussie all-rounder Ben Cutting (20) struck four boundaries during his brief stay which was ended by a full and dead yorker from medium pacer Jasprit Bumrah before slinger Malinga picked Vijay Shankar (1) to reduce the visitors to 147/6.
The final over saw Bumrah getting another couple of wickets — Naman Ojha (9) and Rashid Khan (2) — as Hyderabad failed to seize the momentum in the death overs.