The most decorated team in the history of IPL, Mumbai Indians, needed to pull a rabbit out of the hat in Abu Dhabi on Friday evening against a depleted Sunrisers Hyderabad. Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav helped MI post a record 235/6 before Hyderabad gave it their all and fell short by 42 runs. Manish Pandey top scored for SRH with an unbeaten 69.
MI needed to win the game by 170 runs or more to make the playoffs and would have been eliminated if they didn’t bat first. Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders are the top four for 2021 with five-time winners MI unable to progress. MI finished fifth.
Troubled by bad form earlier in the season, Kishan came out of the blocks fast along with Rohit Sharma and started off with an 8 run over before the left hander smashed four consecutive boundaries of Sid Kaul in an 18-run over after that.
Kishan and Rohit Sharma started off with an 8 run over before the left hander smashed four consecutive boundaries of Sid Kaul in an 18-run over after that.
A shell shocked SRH introduced Mohammad Nabi, hoping to slow things down but Kishan and Rohit hammered 15 more. The next over was even more productive as Kishan showed off his strokes, clubbing Jason Holder for a six and two fours in a 22-run over, bringing up his half century of 16 deliveries, the fastest for the MI franchise in the IPL.
Young Umran Malik’s pace helped the openers put him away with ease too before Rashid Khan had to be brought into the attack for the final over of the powerplay. And he struck immediately, Rohit top edging a pull to Nabi for 18 off 13 as MI finished the powerplay with the score at 83/1.
Hardik Pandya joined Kishan and was more than happy to let the opener continue in his merry ways, feeding him the strike as they continued to score at the rate of knots, despite the fielding restrictions being lifted.
Hardik too threatened to join the party with a six of Rashid but was caught in the deep by Jason Roy as he looked to repeat the act against Holder for 10 off 8. In walked Kieron Pollard, but could not combine with Kishan for too much as the left hander, who had a century in sight, was caught behind by Wriddhiman Saha off the pacy Malik for 84 off 32 balls. Kishan had smashed 11 fours and 4 maximums in what was a dramatic start to the evening.
Suryakumar Yadav during his innings against SRH.
Image: BCCI
New batters Pollard and Suryakumar Yadav found it hard to score as fast as Kishan, with the likes of Rashid and Abhishek Sharma helping apply the brakes, somewhat. The duo put on 27 before Abhishek had Pollard caught right behind the bowler in the deep for 13 and then Jimmy Neesham caught by Nabi off the very next ball.
Suryakumar was then joined by Krunal Pandya, both have had a poor season with the bat so far, and put on a stand of 33. Krunal found it tough to get his timing going and was caught at cover by Nabi for 9 as he tried to hit Rashid out of the city.
Suryakumar at the other end though was slowly but surely rebuilding the momentum, sweeping, driving and improvising with aplomb as MI closed in on 200. A drive straight back over Kaul in the 17th over gave him his half-century of 24 deliveries before another similar one to long off brought up the 200 after 16.4 overs. MI scored 14 off that over as Kaul finished his spell with figures of 0/56.
Nathan Coulter-Nile added 3 to the cause before being caught in the deep off Holder after which Malik was taken to the cleaners by Suryakumar, who was finding the gaps at will. Suryakumar took a sharp knock on the helmet from Malik but was cleared to play as an improbable century beckoned.
Suryakumar though could not do too much more damage after that in the final over as he was caught by Nabi, who took 5 catches, for 82 off 40 of Holder. Jasprit Bumrah added 5 more as MI finished with 235/9, their highest total ever.
Ishan Kishan during his knock against SRH
Image: BCCI
SRH openers Jason Roy and Abhishek Sharma weren’t about to roll over of course and took the attack to Boult and Bumrah.
While Roy played his usual power game, Abhishek played a few crips shots during his 16 ball 33. The Englishman however was the first to depart for a quick 34, caught by Krunal off Boult in the fifth over with MI needing to knock over 9 more in 2 runs to stay in the race.
Along with captain Manish Pandey, Abhishek added 15 more for the second wicket before Neesham had his number. The veteran Piyush Chawla then got into the act as Pollard caught Nabi’s (3) lofted hit.
Off the first ball of the next over, Neesham struck again, as Abdul Samad was caught at long on for 2, however the Kiwi would not get his hattrick.
Priyam Garg and Pandey kept chipping away and just about keeping SRH in the hunt in the mammoth chase. The two batters though hardly troubled MI despite putting on a 56-run partnership.
Garg (29) was the next to depart as Bumrah had him caught by Hardik at long on after he was foxed by a slower one.
While the required rate started to inch towards the impossible zone, Pandey completed his half century, keeping SRH in it, just about. However, Holder could not keep him company for too long and was gone for 1, off Coulter-Nile.
Rashid Khan added 9 to the cause as Bumrah picked another before Coulter-Nile finished his spell with the scalp of Saha for 2, and an ice pack while trying to complete the caught and bowled. Manish Pandey continued to solider on but the writing was on the wall.
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