Hyderabad: A powerful display of batting from Lendl Simmons and Hyderabad’s very own A.T. Rayudu laid the Eagles low in an IPL game here on Monday night. Chasing the Sunrisers’ modest 157, Mumbai Indians recovered from an early jolt to canter over the finish line in style at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium.
The smooth, seven-wicket win provided much needed boost to the defending champions’ stuttering campaign this season. The bright Blues, who have been staggering at the bottom of the table until now, would like to believe that they’ve turned the corner. Rayudu and Simmons came together after Mumbai lost opener C.M. Gautam in the second over. The two rebuilt the innings with a superb 130-run stand, the fourth highest this tournament, that came off just 87 balls, to put their side firmly on track. Senior partner Simmons called the shots, hitting four sixes and four boundaries in his 68 before falling in the 16th over. Six balls later, Rayudu followed him after matching his score – 68, that included seven fours and two sixes.
By then, it was all over bar the shouting for the home side though. Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard completed the formalities without any hassle. Earlier, Aaron Finch and David Warner took Sunrisers to a decent total with contributions of 68 and 55 respectively. Opener Finch was the principal player, anchoring the innings to boost the team total in short bursts. He smashed seven boundaries and two soaring sixes in his 62-ball knock before falling while trying to force the pace. Finch holed out to Kieron Pollard on the long-off boundary as he attempted to thump Malinga out of the ground in the second last over of the innings.
Warner stepped on the gas late, after Finch left, to strike 6 boundaries and two sixes in his 31-ball innings. He mauled Lasith Malinga for two sixes in the death overs to get some late momentum. Then, Warner and Naman Ojha (7 not out) pummeled Pollard to take 18 runs off the final over to push ahead. Mention must be made of rookie Jasprit Bumrah who came up with brilliant bowling at the death as Warner and Finch struggled to get under his deliveries — they could only score singles off the crucial 18th over.
Scoreboard
Sunrisers Hyderabad: A. Finch c Pollard b Malinga 68, S. Dhawan b Malinga 11, K.L. Rahul (run out) 10, D. Warner (not out) 55, N. Ojha (not out) 7. Extras (lb1, w5) 6. Total (for three wickets in 20 overs) 157.
FoW: 1-31, 2-70, 3-133.
Bowling: Anderson 2-0-17-0, Bumrah 4-0-24-0, Harbhajan 4-0-27-0, Malinga 4-0-35-2, Ojha 4-0-32-0, Pollard 2-0-21-0.
Mumbai Indians: L. Simmons b Kumar 68, C. Gautam c Dhawan b Kumar 1, A. Rayudu c & b Henriques 68, R. Sharma (not out) 14, K. Pollard (not out) 6. Extras (w-3) 3. Total (for three wickets in 18.4 overs) 160
Bowling: D. Steyn 4-0-29-0, B. Kumar 4-0-21-2, I. Pathan 2-0-29-0, A. Mishra 3-0-33-0, K. Sharma 2.4-0-25-0, M. Henriques 3-0-23-1.
