The Mumbai Indians barged their way into the Pepsi IPL 2015 Playoffs after they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by nine wickets in Hyderabad yesterday. In the final league game of the season – a do-or-die contest for both teams – MI came out to bowl all charged up and demolished the home side bowling them out for a paltry 113, and then knocked off the runs in the 14th over.
On what appeared to be a beautiful batting surface, MI struck two deadly blows in the first two overs to deflate the hosts. Lasith Malinga dished out the inch-perfect yorker that sneaked under the bat of Shikhar Dhawan and uprooted his off stump. Mitchell McClenaghan, who opened the bowling at the other end, dished out a sharp bouncer first up which caught David Warner unawares, and forced the batsman to top edge a pull which was caught by Kieron Pollard running in front point.
From 7 for two, Moises Henriques and Eoin Morgan attempted to consolidate the innings and batted very conservatively over the next few overs; they added 16 runs over the next 4.1 overs, before the latter attempted an uppercut which carried to