Mumbai Indians made it a hat-trick of wins as they beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in Match 25 of TATA IPL 2023 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Cameron Green (64 off 40) starred with the bat with his maiden IPL fifty, ably supported by Ishan Kishan (38 off 31) and Tilak Varma (37 off 17) as MI posted a competitive 192/5. Jason Behrendorff then set the platform with two early wickets as a collective bowling effort saw MI bowl SRH out for 178 and win the match by 14 runs.
Chasing 193, SRH were jolted early as Jason Behrendorff sent back the in-form Harry Brook (9 off 7) in the second over. Brook was looking in good touch having cracked a couple of fours, including one off the previous delivery but Behrendorff hit back hard to bounce out the England batter off the next ball. The Australian pacer came back to have Rahul Tripathi caught behind in his next over to reduce SRH to 25/2.
MI bowled with discipline and conceded just four fours and a six in the Powerplay to restrict the home team to 42/2 in the first six overs.
Mayank Agarwal and Aiden Markram got a move on with a couple of fours and a six but first-innings hero Green struck a huge blow, having Markram (22 off 17) caught at deep mid-wicket while trying to accelerate. One brought two as Piyush Chawla had Abhishek Sharma caught at long off, off a googly in the next over as SRH reached 76/4 at the end of 10 overs.
Agarwal and Heinrich Klassen then got together and hit an odd four every over before Klaasen went after Chawla and hit him for 4, 6, 6, 4. But the experienced spinner bounced back hard to have him caught at long on off the next ball for 36(16).
The equation came down to 66 needed off 36. SRH sent in their Impact Player Abdul Samad at No.7.
Meredith then bowled an excellent over as he sent back the set Agarwal (48 off 41), caught at long on and gave away just six runs. Jansen hit two fours in the next over from Green to make it 10 off the over. Jansen then hit a four off Meredith but the Australian pacer sent him back next ball to provide a crucial breakthrough and give away just seven from the over.
With 43 needed off 18, Washington Sundar hit a couple of fours off Behrendorff and then Behrendorff conceded five WIDES. But a moment of brilliance from Tim David saw him run out Washington before Bhuvneshwar Kumar hit the final ball of the roller-coaster over for a four to make it 19 off it.
With 24 needed off 12, Green bowled a superb over, conceding just four runs to bring the equation down to 20 needed off the last over.
Rohit Sharma handed the ball to Arjun Tendulkar to bowl the last over. And the youngster held his nerve, nailed his yorkers, picked up his maiden IPL wicket, that of Bhuvneshwar, and conceded just five runs in a superb last over as SRH were bowled out for 178.
Earlier, Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Aiden Markram won the toss and elected to bowl. They made one change to the starting XI as Washington Sundar replaced Umran Malik. They named Abdul Samad, Vivrant Sharma, Glenn Phillips, Mayank Dagar and Umran Malik as their substitutes.
Mumbai Indians made two changes to the starting eleven as Rohit Sharma and Jason Behrendorff replaced Duan Jansen and Riley Meredith. They named Riley Meredith, Ramandeep Singh, Kumar Kartikeya, Shams Mulani and Vishnu Vinod as their substitutes.
Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan provided early momentum to the Mumbai Indians but they lost the captain inside the Powerplay. Rohit charged down the track and thumped one over cover, off Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s final ball of the first over, to open Mumbai Indians’ boundary account. Ishan Kishan hit the first six of the innings as he pulled one over fine leg off Marco Jansen in the next over.
SRH introduced spin early and Rohit welcomed Washington Sundar with three fours off the first three balls, two fours behind square on the leg side and one behind square on the off side. Kishan hit a four off Jansen in the next over but the SRH all-rounder bowled a pretty good over overall as he conceded just five in the over.
Rohit took on T Natarajan in the next over, hitting him for two fours but the pacer bounced back hard and had Rohit (28 off 18) caught at mid off, off a leading edge. Ishan Kishan brought up MI’s fifty with a cracking six over deep mid-wicket off Bhuvneshwar as the home side reached 53/1 at the end of the Powerplay.
The spinners slowed things down post the Powerplay and MI went without a boundary for 18 balls. Cameron Green finally broke the shackles by charging down to Washington and smacking one over long on for a six. Kishan too upped his scoring, hitting a couple of powerful fours off Mayank Markande as MI reached 80/1 at the halfway mark.
SRH clawed back after the halfway mark. Natarajan bowled a very good over, giving away just seven runs which included Jansen putting in a fantastic effort near the boundary rope to pull off a catch and then throw it back on the field and save four runs. He then came back to bowl and then sent back Ishan Kishan (38 off 31) courtesy a very well judged catch by Aiden Markram. Suryakumar Yadav whipped a six off Jansen off his second ball but departed off the next as Markram pulled off another brilliant catch at mid off as Jansen picked up two wickets in the over. Green and Tilak Varma injected some momentum in the innings, hammering a couple of fours and sixes off the next over from Jansen to make it 21-run over. Varma went after Markande hitting a four and a six to accumulate 14 runs off it. The duo brought up the 50-run stand off just 27 balls. Bhuvneshwar then struck at a crucial juncture to break the partnership by having Tilak Varma 37(17) caught at deep point.
Green though kept the momentum going as he took on Natarajan and smacked three fours and a six to crack 20 runs off the over and bring up his maiden IPL fifty off 33 balls. Bhuvneshwar bowled another fantastic over to give away just 6 in the penultimate over but Green and Tim David finished well with 14 off the last over from Natarajan to propel MI to 192/5. Green remained unbeaten on 64(40).
Mumbai Indians brought on Riley Meredith as their Impact Player, replacing Tilak Varma during their bowling innings.