SRH vs MI: Siddarth Kaul, Shikhar Dhawan propel Sunrisers Hyderabad to 7-wicket win

Hyderabad: Brilliant Shikhar Dhawan and Siddarth Kaul propelled defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad to a crucial win over table toppers Mumbai Indians at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, in Hyderabad, on Monday.

Mumbai Indians had already qualified for the playoffs, and skipper Rohit Sharma decided to use this opportunity to experiment a bit, as he opted to bat first after winning the toss.

Mumbai supporters would have instantly regretted this decision, as SRH's Afghan spin duo Mohammad Nabi (1-13) and Rashid Khan (1-22) stemmed the flow of runs early on in the innings.

Despite the fact that Rohit stuck around, scoring a blistering 67 off 45 balls, MI were stifled very well at the other end, where Siddarth Kaul kept picking up the important wickets; he even got Rohit out towards the death overs of the innings.

The visitors ambled on in the death overs, to finish with a modest total of 138 for 7.

SRH also lost one of their openers, captain David Warner early on, but Moises Henriques and Shikhar Dhawan stabilised the innings in the first six overs of powerplay, and then went on to up the ante.

Henriques was unluck not to have scored his half century, as he mis-read a Bumrah cutter, but Dhawan stuck through to the end, to score an unbeaten 62 from 46 balls, to guide his side to a comfortable, and very important win.

This result, however, brings the curtains down on Delhi Daredevils' IPL campaign this year.

SRH: 140-3 from 18.2 overs

Vijay Shankar finishes the proceedings off in style, as he smashes a full-length delivery by Bumrah into the outfield for a boundary.

SRH: 113-3 from 15 overs

WICKET! Yuvraj attempts the big slog against Malinga, but only managed to lob it high for Hardik Pandya to catch it in the deep.

Shikhar Dhawan brought up his 50 in between, giving stability to the SRH innings, as wickets fall around him.

SRH: 98-2 from 12.1 overs

WICKET! Bumrah rolls his fingers over the ball, and Henriques completely mis-read the pace on that ball. He ends up giving a thick edge to Rohit Sharma, who gleefully catches it. However, it looks like its too little too late for MI to make any semblance of a comeback.

SRH: 83-1 from 10 overs

Sunrisers are back on track, and are easing their way towards, what looks like, a very comfortable victory against the table toppers. Dhawan and Henriques have stabilised the innings well, after Warner’s wicket, and are now scoring the runs at a brisk rate. The required rate is now below run-a-ball.

SRH: 37-1 from 5 overs

David Warner's wicket has slowed the runrate a bit, but Shikhar Dhawan seems to have gotten his eye in, as he smashed a couple of boundaries off Bumrah. 11 of the 5th over.

SRH: 7-1 from 1.1 overs

WICKET! McClenaghan strikes with his first ball of the game! Fires in a perfect yorker, and wraps Warner on the pads. It looked plumb on real time and umpire Marias Erasmus instantly raised his finger. However, replays suggested that there was a faint edge.

MI: 138-7 from 20 overs

A brilliant bowling display by Sunrisers tonight. Bhuvi bowled a peach of a last over, picking up two wickets and giving away only 6 runs, as MI finish with a rather modest total of 138-7. This is MI's lowest total so far this season.

MI: 132-6 from 19.1 overs

WICKET! Another one gone. Pollard goes for the big shot off Bhuvi's bowling, but only managed to find Vijay Shankar in the deep.

MI: 126-5 from 18.1 overs

WICKET! Kaul has been on fire tonight. Rohit went for a hard slash against a wide delivery by Kaul, but only managed to catch the inside edge and dragged the ball back into his stumps.

MI: 110-4 from 16 overs

Rohit Sharma has played the captain’s knock here. He has taken it quite slowly so far, with wickets falling around him, but the MI skipper has the capability to bring out the big shots in the death overs.

MI: 99-4 from 15 overs

WICKET! Rashid Khan gets the important breakthrough. Pandya goes for the big shot off the leggie, but edges the ball high into the sky, as Moises Henriques takes a good catch.

MI: 59-3 from 10 overs

Those three early wickets have stemmed the flow of runs quite a bit, as MI skipper Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya try to rebuild the innings. Mohammad Nabi has already bowled out his quota of four overs, ending with figures of 1-13.

MI: 36-3 from 6.1 overs

WICKET! Parthiv went for a lofted shot on the leg side, but it was too close to Warner, who did well to take the catch, while running in.

MI: 29-2 from 5 overs

This has been a good start by SRH so far. Warner’s decision to give Mohammad Nabi the second over has worked wonders. The Afghan struck in his first over itself, picking up Lendl Simmons’ wicket, while Siddarth Kaul removed the dangerous Nitish Rana.

MI: 22-2 from 4.1 overs

WICKET! Nitish Rana goes for the big pull on the leg side, but ends up top-edging it to the off side, giving a high catch for Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

MI: 4-1 from 1.4 overs

WICKET! Opening with Nabi was worked out well for Warner here. The Afghan fired it into Lendl Simmons' pads, as the West Indian completely missed the line of the ball. Nabi uprooted Simmins' middle stump with that ball. How many times do we se a spinner doing that?

Teams:

Mumbai Indians: Lendl Simmons, Parthiv Patel (wk), Nitish Rana, Rohit Sharma (c), Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Karn Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malinga

Sunrisers Hyderabad XI: David Warner (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Nabi, Vijay Shankar, Naman Ojha (wk), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan, Siddarth Kaul, Mohammed Siraj

Toss:

Rohit Sharma has won the toss, and has decided to bat first. This certainly goes against the general trend in this year's IPL, but having already cemented their position in the playoffs, MI can afford to experiment a bit.

Hyderabad: Defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad, who started off the season in great form, will now be looking to regain their momentum as they come up against table toppers Mumbai Indians, at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.

Mumbai Indians may have already qualified for the top four slots in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 season, but they still need to ensure that they finish in the top two, in order to get a direct shot at qualifying for the final of the tournament.

Meanwhile, Hyderabad’s winning momentum has been cut short with two consecutive defeats at the hand of Delhi Daredevils and Rising Pune Supergiant.

Although they are a few points ahead of Kings XI Punjab at fifth position, one spot below SRH, David Warner and his men have to to rally around and get back to their winning ways, in order to ensure progression to the knockout stages at least.