Captain Hardik Pandya’s pace and veteran leg-spinner Piyush Chawla’s craft put the brakes on Sunrisers Hyderabad’s batting line-up before Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma’s scintillating display with the willow gave Mumbai Indians a rare win this season.
Riding on Suryakumar’s 51-ball unbeaten 102, studded with 12 fours and six sixes, and his unbroken third-wicket association of 143 off just 79 balls with Tilak (37 not out, 32b, 6x4), the host overhauled the target of 174 with 16 balls to spare.
When Tilak took guard in the fifth over, MI was in a spot of bother.
With the Sunrisers pace battery having reduced the home team to 31 for three, Mumbai Indians was in danger of letting its bowlers’ good work come apart because of another poor show by the top-order.
Ishan Kishan, straightened up by Marco Jansen, was caught in slips, Rohit Sharma miscued a pull off Cummins, and Naman Dhir slashed Bhuvneshwar to point to make early exits.
But in the seventh over, Suryakumar changed the complexion by taking on Jansen. In what turned out to be a 22-run over, Suryakumar swung the left-arm pacer over the fine-leg fence twice with his trademark behind-the-wicket innovations.
Then on, Tilak played a perfect second fiddle as his partner continued to torment the opposition attack.
The flamboyant batter settled a score with Cummins by essaying three consecutive pull shots in the 17th over that not only brought MI to the cusp of a win but also put him on the verge of a hundred. He achieved both the milestones in the next over by lofting S. Natarajan’s first ball over long-off for a six.
Had it not been for Chawla and Hardik’s partnership with the ball, MI would have been chasing a stiffer target.
The duo picked three crucial wickets — Travis Head, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Heinrich Klaasen — for just six runs in 11 balls to derail Sunrisers from 90 for two to 96 for five.
The two shared another three scalps in the 16th and 17th overs to put MI on top before Cummins’ cameo helped SRH cross the 170-run mark.
Scoreboard
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head c Tilak Varma b Chawla 48 Abhishek Sharma c Ishan Kishan b Bumrah 11 Mayank Agarwal b Anshul Kamboj 5 Nitish Reddy c Anshul Kamboj b Hardik Pandya 20 Heinrich Klaasen b Chawla 2 Marco Jansen b Hardik Pandya 17 Shahbaz Ahmed c Suryakumar Yadav b Hardik Pandya 10 Abdul Samad lbw b Chawla 3 Pat Cummins not out 35 Sanvir Singh not out 8 Extras: (LB-2, W-9, NB-3) 14
Total: (For 8 wickets in 20 Overs) 173
Fall of wickets: 1-56, 2-68, 3-90, 4-92, 5-96, 6-120, 7-124, 8-136.
Mumbai Indians bowling: Nuwan Thushara 4-0-42-0, Anshul Kamboj 4-0-42-1, Jasprit Bumrah 4-0-23-1, Hardik Pandya 4-0-31-3, Piyush Chawla 4-0-33-3.
Mumbai Indians: Ishan Kishan c Mayank b Jansen 9 (7b, 2x4), Rohit Sharma c Klaasen b Cummins 4 (5b, 1x4), Naman Dhir c Jansen b Bhuvneshwar 0 (9b), Suryakumar Yadav (not out) 102 (51b, 12x4, 6x6), Tilak Varma (not out) 37 (32b, 6x4)
Extras: (b-4, lb-10, w-8): 22
Total: (for three wkts. in 17.2 overs): 174.
Fall of wickets: 1-26 (Kishan, 1.4), 2-31 (Rohit, 3.2), 3-31 (Dhir, 4.1).
Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling: Bhuvneshwar 4-1-22-1, Jansen 3-0-45-1, Cummins 4-1-35-1, Natarajan 3.2-0-31-0, Nitish 2-0-16-0, Shahbaz 1-0-11-0.
Toss: Mumbai Indians. PoM: Suryakumar
MI won by seven wickets with 16 balls to spare
