Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Mumbai Indians by 3 runs.
Rahul Tripathi and Umran Malik were the stars for SRH at the Wankhede.
SRH's win keeps them in the hunt for the Top 4 spot.
Rahul Tripathi hammered 76 with the bat and then Umran Malik’s pace and Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s pinpoint accuracy were enough to help Sunrisers Hyderabad register a 3-run win against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede in IPL 2022.
Batting first, the Sunrisers did not open with Kane Williamson, as the in-form Abhishek Sharma and Priyam Garg took charge. However, the experiment didn’t work out as Daniel Sams sent Sharma back to the hut for 9.
From then on in, Garg and Rahul Tripathi started to build, and continued to score at good pace during the powerplay. Garg was quite attacking at his end and Tripathi matched him shot for shot for the rest of the powerplay, finishing at 57/1.
They didn’t slow down after that either as Sanjay Yadav and Mayank Markande bore the brunt of the attack. Garg was approaching his half-century around the midway stage, before Ramandeep Singh got his wicket for 42 off 26 deliveries. Garg and Tripathi had put on a 78-run stand.
In walked Nicholas Pooran, and took a few deliveries to get his eye in, while Tripathi kept the momentum going. He too was approaching a fifty. Against Riley Meredith, the left-handed Pooran cut loose with back-to-back sixes, and then attacked Markande in the next over too. By the end of the 14th over, Tripathi too had brought up a 32-ball half-century as SRH looked set to go big in the final phase of the innings.
Rahul Tripathi played a brilliant knock against MI
Image: BCCI
After that, Tripathi went through the gears in Sams’ final over, smashing a six and two fours as SRH hurtled along. Trying to keep the run-rate going, Pooran went to clear long leg off Meredith before a brilliant catch by Markande ended a 22-ball 38 run cameo. Tripathi and Pooran had added 76 off 42 deliveries. There was still no sign of Williamson as Aiden Markram walked in.
Shortly after, Tripathi’s fine innings came to an end. He didn’t connect well and was caught in the deep by Tilak Varma off Ramandeep for 76 off 44 balls, having hit 9 fours and 3 sixes. Before the over was out, Ramandeep had Markram walking back for 2. SRH had lost three wickets for as many runs and the focus was on Williamson and Washington Sundar.
Sundar threw his bat at everything and so did Williamson, finding the boundary once in the final 2 overs, and pushing the total to 193/7. Bumrah finished the innings with the scalp of Sundar while Williamson was unbeaten on 8.
In response, Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan got MI off to a good start, something that had not happened enough during the course of the tournament. The openers took the attack to SRH’s bowlers, especially after the first over. In the 5th, the hammered 16 and end the powerplay with 51 on the board and all ten wickets in hand.
Kishan was of course the more aggressive, while Rohit was slowly going through the gears at the other end. A couple of slow overs followed, after which Rohit and Kishan tore into Umran Malik, taking 17 off an over that had a few extras at the start as well. At the midway stage, Rohit and Kishan were looking good, and set to play the big knock. After 10 overs, MI were 89/0 and motoring along.
Off the next over though, SRH would strike as Sundar had India colleague Rohit caught at deep midwicket, for 48. And right after, Umran bounced back and sent the dangerous Kishan back to the hut for 43, caught at mid-on by Garg.
Sams joined Tilak Varma in the middle and steadied the ship first. After that, Sams smashed a towering six off Sundar as they looked to get a move on. However, just as the 14th over started, Umran’s pace had Tilak in trouble, and walking back to the hut for 8. MI lost their third wicket and were in a spot of bother.
And before the over was out, Umran’s pace accounted for another scalp as Sams’ attempted pull was plucked out of thin air by Garg at midwicket. Sams walked back for 15 as Umran bagged his third wicket and had an over to go too. In the last 5 overs, MI needed 67 runs.
Umran Malik bowling against MI
Image: BCCI
Tim David took a couple of boundaries of T Natarajan, who was having an expensive day. Off the next over, Bhuvneshwar Kumar got his line and length going, before he ran out Tristian Stubbs at the non-striker’s end for 2.
The fireworks though were yet to come as Tim David decided to take charge. He started with a boundary after the run-out and then clobbered Natarajan for three monster sixes. The bowler though was able run-out David for 46 off 18 deliveries as SRH breathed a sigh of relief.
Bhuvi was the next to strike as Ramandeep Singh was gone for 0, after which the bowler sent a flurry of yorkers down towards Bumrah, to complete a wicket-maiden over, and all but put the seal on the win. Fazalhaq Farooqi finished things off with a 15-run over, but MI fell just short in the end.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)