MUMBAI : A brilliant counterattack by Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma following a quick loss of wickets powered the Mumbai Indians (MI) to a seven-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) game at Wankhede Stadium on Monday.
MI is at the ninth spot with four wins and eight losses, giving them eight points. SRH is at fourth spot with six wins and five losses, giving them 12 points.
In the run-chase of 174 runs, the five-time champions Mumbai were off to a poor start as they lost their top-order of Ishan Kishan (9), Rohit Sharma (4) and Naman Dhir (0) one-by-one to the pace trio of Marco Jansen, Pat Cummins and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. MI sank to 31/3 in 4.1 overs.
The duo of Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma took it upon themselves to rebuild the innings. At the end of six overs, MI was 52/3, with Suryakumar (11*) and Tilak (9*) unbeaten. In the final over of the powerplay, Suryakumar and Tilak brought some momentum to MI by smashing Cummins for two fours and a six.
Suryakumar continued his assault on pace, looting 20 runs in four balls against Jansen in the next over, with two fours and two sixes. 22 runs came from the over number seven.
Surya and Tilak reached their 50-run stand in 27 balls.
Halfway through the innings, MI was 84/3, with Suryakumar (33*) and Tilak (19*) unbeaten.
Mumbai reached the 100-run mark in 11.4 overs with a boundary by Suryakumar towards fine-leg region.
Suryakumar reached his fifty, his fourth this season, in 30 balls, with five fours and three sixes.
In the remaining six overs, MI was left with 46 runs to chase at 128/3, with Suryakumar (66*) and Tilak (28*) unbeaten.
In the 15th over, Surya continued to keep MI in the hunt with two brilliant boundaries, bringing down the deficit to 35 runs needed in 30 balls. MI was 139/3 in 15 overs. The duo brought up their century partnership in just 62 balls.
In the next over by T Natrajan, MI got some more boost in the form of two boundaries, one each by Surya and Tilak, which pulled down the deficit to 25 runs in the final four overs.
MI reached the 150-run mark in 16.1 overs. In the final three overs, MI needed just seven runs, with Surya blasting Cummins for two fours and a six on the final three balls of the 17th over to reach the score of 96.
Surya hit Natrajan for a huge six in the 18th over’s second delivery, ending his innings at 102* in 51 balls, with 12 fours and six sixes. MI ended their innings at 174/3 in 17.2 overs, with Tilak also unbeaten at 37 in 32 balls, with six fours.
Cummins, Jansen and Bhuvneshwar got a wicket each.
Earlier, Hardik Pandya and Piyush Chawla’s three-wicket hauls restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at 173/8 against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday.
Batting sensation Travis Head and skipper Pat Cummins were the two highest run scorers for the Sunrisers as they helped the visitors put 173/8 on the scoreboard against the hosts on Monday.
After winning the toss, MI skipper Hardik Pandya sent the Sunrisers to bat first, and their decision did go in their favour as they dominated the visitors in the first inning.
Travis Head (48) and Abhishek Sharma (11) opened for Sunrisers Hyderbad and played a 56-run partnership. However, MI pacer Jasprit Bumrah made the first breakthrough of the game after he removed Abhishek in the 6th over.
Soon after losing the first wicket, SRH failed to make a solid partnership as the MI bowlers dominated the game. Before reaching the 100-run mark in the 13th over, SRH lost four more wickets and stood at 96/5.
The second wicket of the inning came after debutant Anshul Kamboj removed Mayank Agarwal (5) in the 8th over.
Piyush Chawla bagged an important wicket after he removed the dangerous Head in the 11th over. The Australian batter missed his half-century for just two runs.
Skipper Hardik Pandya’s first wicket came after he dismissed Nitish Reddy (20) in the 12th over.
After losing early wickets, the Sunrisers must have thought Heinrich Klaasen (2) would take care of the middle order but the Proteas cricketer was removed from the crease in the 13th over by Chawla.
The batters failed to stay on the crease for a longer time after the MI bowling attack kept on taking wickets. Shahbaz Ahmed (10) and Marco Jansen (17) were dismissed by Pandya in the 16th over. Later in the 17th over, Chawla picked Abdul Samad’s (3) wicket in the 17th over.
In the end, Pat Cummins (35*) and Sanvir Singh (8) were unbeaten on the crease and took SRH to 173/8.
Pandya and Chawla picked up three wickets each in their respective spells and led the Mumbai bowling attack. While Anshul Kamboj and Jasprit Bumrah picked one wicket each. Nuwan Thushara was the only MI bowler who failed to pick wickets in the game.
Brief score: Sunrisers Hyderabad (Travis Head 48, Pat Cummins 35*, Nitish Reddy 20; Hardik Pandya 3/31) lost to Mumbai Indians: 174/3 in 17.2 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 102*, Tilak Varma 37*, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/22). (ANI)