CHENNAI, India, CMC – Man-of-the-Match Kieron Pollard smashed a late order cameo and then sent down two miserly overs during the crucial middle period as reigning champions Mumbai Indians successfully defended a modest 150 to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 13 runs in the Indian Premier League here yesterday.
Playing at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, the West Indies white ball captain conjured up a 22-ball unbeaten 35 with a four and three sixes, a knock which propelled Mumbai to 150 for five off their 20 overs.
In reply, Sunrisers got a top score of 43 from Englishman Johnny Bairstow and 36 from opening partner, Australian David Warner, the pair posting 67 for the first wicket.
However, 21-year-old leg-spinner Rahul Chahar (3-19) and New Zealand left-arm pacer Trent Boult (3-28) both picked up three-wicket hauls to engineer a collapse which saw the last eight wickets tumble for 47 runs as Sunrisers were dismissed for 137 with two balls to spare.
The victory took Mumbai top of the league with four points while Sunrisers remained rock bottom with three defeats in as many outings.
Openers Quinton de Kock (40) and Rohit Sharma (32) put on 55 off 39 deliveries after Mumbai chose to bat first, leaving Sunrisers on the backfoot.
Left-hander de Kock struck five in a 39-ball knock while Rohit belted a pair of fours and sixes off 25 balls before he was first out, taken at deep mid-wicket off seamer Vijay Shankar (2-19).
De Kock then added a further 27 for the third wicket with Ishan Kishan (10) before becoming the first of two wickets for Afghan off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman (2-29) at 98 for three in the 14th over.
With the innings stalling, Pollard arrived to hasten the scoring, ending the innings with two successive sixes off pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Sunrisers appeared on course for an easy win when Bairstow punched three fours and four sixes in a 22-ball knock and the left-Warner added two fours and sixes off 34 balls.
But Bairstow trod on his stumps in the eighth over and Manish Pandey followed in the ninth for two, before Pollard dried up the scoring in two successive overs, the first of which cost only three runs.
Warner’s demise in the 12th over from Pollard, run out at the striker’s end attempting a high risk single, proved the trigger for the Sunrisers collapse.
