MATCH REPORT
Follow UsA disciplined bowling effort, followed by a dominating 151*-run opening stand between David Warner and Wriddhiman Saha helped Sunrisers Hyderabad hammer Mumbai Indians by 10 wickets and propelled them to the playoffs of the Indian Premier League 2020. The victory also meant that Kolkata Knight Riders are out of the tournament. SRH looked down and out at one stage, but have now beaten Mumbai, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals - all of them who have qualified for the playoffs - in their last three encounters.
Hyderabad will now take on Bangalore in the Eliminator, while Mumbai will collide with Delhi in Qualifier 1. The winner of that match will qualify for the finale, while the loser will take on the winner of the Eliminator.
Asked to bat, Mumbai could only manage 149/8 in their 20 overs. Sandeep Sharma (3/34), Jason Holder (2/25) and Shahbaz Nadeem (2/19) were all amongst wickets, and if not for Kieron Pollard's 25-ball 41, things could have gone from bad to worse for the table-toppers. In response, Warner (58-ball 85*) and Saha (45-ball 58*) batted with complete authority and completed the chase in just 17.1 overs.
Earlier, Rohit Sharma made his return after missing the last four matches because of an injury but his presence made no difference whatsoever. The right-hander (4) didn't look comfortable against Sandeep and Holder who were extracting good movement with the new ball. The Mumbai captain tried to go after both the bowlers but couldn't get his timing right. His brief stay came to an end in the third over when he tried to loft Sandeep over mid-off but ended up miscuing it straight to Warner. Coming in at No. 3, in-form Suryakumar Yadav announced his arrival with a couple of boundaries and looked at ease from the word go.
Meanwhile, Quinton de Kock took some time to settle in before cutting loose in Sandeep's third over. The wicketkeeper-batsman tonked him for two sixes and a four on the first three deliveries but the right-arm seamer had his revenge on the very next ball. De Kock got a bit greedy and ended up dragging one back onto the stumps. The left-hander slammed two fours and as many maximums in his 13-ball 25 but failed to convert it into something substantial. Suryakumar however kept finding boundaries as Mumbai ended the powerplay with 48 runs on the board.
NADEEM SHINES FOR SRH
The onus was on Suryakumar and Ishan Kishan to keep the scoreboard moving but T Natarajan, Rashid Khan and Nadeem didn't allow them to dictate terms. The trio didn't concede a single boundary in the next three overs and Suryakumar and Kishan were forced to focus on ones and twos. In the process, Suyakumar went past the 400-run mark for the third consecutive season. The runs were not flowing and that's when the two decided to break the shackles and went after Rashid. After Suryakumar swept the legspinner for a boundary, Kishan clobbered him for a six down the ground.
Before Mumbai could build on that momentum, Saha pulled off an outstanding stumping in the bowling of Nadeem and sent Suryakumar back for a 29-ball 36. The left-arm spinner from Jharkhand looked in great rhythm and got rid of Krunal Pandya (0) in the same over. Nadeem finished with figures of 2/19. The pressure was on Mumbai and David Warner brought Rashid back into the attack. The legspinner, who was expensive in his first spell, pushed Mumbai further on the back foot by dismissing Saurabh Tiwary (1) and would have also got rid of Kishan if he wouldn't have dropped a simple caught-and-bowled opportunity.
Kishan and Pollard played out the two spinners and waited for the seamers to return. Pollard greeted Natarajan with back-to-back boundaries before Kishan hammered Sandeep down the ground for his second maximum. The left-hander (30-ball 33) however couldn't carry on and became Sandeep's third victim. Mumbai kept losing wickets and Pollard found no support from the other end. It was all up to Pollard but the big man struggled with his timing for the first 18 deliveries in which he only scored 16.
The 33-year-old finally set the stage on fire in the penultimate over when he tonked Natarajan for three consecutive sixes and accumulated 20 runs from the over. He then blasted Holder's second delivery for yet another six but before he could do any more damage, Pollard missed a full-toss and ended up getting knocked over.
WARNER AND SHAH AT IT AGAIN
Mumbai rested Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult and played Dhawal Kulkarni and James Pattinson. The Mumbai bowlers looked ordinary with the new ball and Saha and Warner made the most of it. It was Saha who started the attack by going after Nathan Coulter-Nile and Kulkarni. The wicketkeeper-batsman crafted three fours and a six in the space of two overs before Warner too joined the fun and slapped his countryman Pattinson for three consecutive boundaries. Rohit was forced to introduce Rahul Chahar into the attack after just four overs but it made no difference whatsoever.
The fast bowlers were too predictable with their line and length and the SRH openers ended the powerplay with 56 runs on the board. A total of nine fours and a six were hit inside six overs. Saha and Warner smashed boundaries at regular intervals and kept the pressure on the Mumbai bowlers. Both Krunal and Chahar looked ineffective as Hyderabad raced to 89 for no loss at the end of 10 overs. The duo got the required run-rate down to six and from there on it was all about batting sensibly. Both Saha and Warner completed their respective fifties in the 12th over and also brought up the 100-run stand in the same over.
The runs just kept flowing and it was Warner who just took off after completing his half-century. The opener from Australia smoked 10 fours and a six during his stay in the middle, and sealed the deal by smashing Krunal through extra covers for a boundary.
