IPL 2018: Match 23, MI vs SRH, Review - Sensational Sunrisers defend the lowest total of the season

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have superbly defended the lowest total of this season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) against the hosts Mumbai Indians (MI). They were absolutely brilliant with their execution of plans in the second innings and kept the batsmen at bay all the time. All their bowlers were sensational as the hosts were left wondering where went wrong for them. However, they have lost 5 matches out of 6 and things are slipping out fast out of the hands of the defending champions.

The smile on Rohit Sharma’s face after winning the toss was visible as it plays a crucial role in deciding the match as well. Needless to say that he opted to field first as the injury-troubled visitors made quite a few changes to their line-up. Basil Thampi, Shikhar Dhawan and Mohammad Nabi were included in the playing XI as Billy Stanlake was ruled out of the tournament ahead of the crucial encounter for them.

Shocking start

Sunrisers changed their opening combination once again as Kane Williamson came out to bat with Shikhar Dhawan. But it did not work for them as the latter was castled by Mitchell McClenaghan with a pitched up delivery which tailed in a bit for the batsmen. In the same over, Wriddhiman Saha was sent back after playing a reckless shot to a wide ball which was also a pitched up by the bowler. Manish Pandey had a great chance to resurrect his lacklustre season so far and started impressively by playing few delightful strokes.

But he was in some hurry today and lobbed a catch to Rohit who was standing at covers even as Shakib Al Hasan was run-out in the very next over to leave his team reeling at 46/4 inside powerplay overs. Meanwhile, it was their skipper Kane Williamson who had done all the scoring until then and had looked in scintillating form again. But the strategic time-out proved to be his undoing and edged an incoming delivery from Hardik Pandya to the wicket-keeper.

Markande owns the purple cap

Mayank Markande has already been the find of the season and he proved it once again. He struck off the first ball of his second over as he tossed up the googly and enticed Mohammad Nabi to go for a big shot. The result of that shot proved to be disastrous as the lights in the stumps lightened up and the jam-packed Wankhede roared in joy. It was extremely tough to play the shots in the middle as the wickets kept on falling with Mumbai going for the kill. Yusuf Pathan tried his best but couldn’t accumulate runs as he would’ve liked.

In the end, the Sunrisers were bundled out for a meagre total of 118 runs in the 19th over itself and they were guilty of missing out on 8 balls of their innings. Markande ended the innings with a superb spell of 2/15 off his 3 overs and became the proud owner of the purple cap with 10 wickets so far in the tournament.

Mumbai lose three in powerplay

The chase of 119 was expected to be cake walk for the home side as the opening duo of Evin Lewis and Suryakumar Yadav strode out to the middle. But even they got off to a worst possible starts courtesy the swing bowling from Sandeep Sharma. Lewis was the first to go as he edged the away swinging delivery to the point fielder where Pandey was stationed. The next over brought the wicket of Ishan Kishan as he needlessly played the ball in the air off Nabi as the long-off fielder easily pouched it.

There was more disaster coming the way of the home side with their skipper Rohit Sharma being dismissed by Shakib as his failures continued. He played a nothing shot and handed a catch to the slip fielder as Mumbai slipped to 21/3 in the 6th over and the fears of yet another loss started doing the rounds.

Consolidation period

Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav was once again playing a brilliant innings for his team and found an able partner in Krunal Pandya to consolidate their position. Both added 40 runs for the fourth wicket with the latter playing few aggressive but safe strokes which brought joy in the Mumbai camp. Just when the things were getting easy for the home side, Rashid Khan bowled the quicker one to Krunal off the front of his hand which rapped on his pads. Though it didn’t close to the naked eye, the bowler prompted a review and it was plumb in the end.

Wickets continue to tumble

Kieron Pollard’s wretched run continued in this game also as he gave catching practice to the slips and was sent back by the same bowler. The pressure kept on piling on Mumbai Indians as the wickets tumbled. Suryakumar Yadav was guilty of hitting the poor bowl straight into the hands of the fielder and Mitchell McClenaghan was pinned in front by Siddarth Kaul and the hosts slipped to 78/7 in the 16th over. All the hopes were now on Hardik Pandya who had just walked in to bat for the team.

It was soon all over for them with Hardik Pandya failing to even connect bat and ball and Kaul ended his misery. He scored only 3 runs off 19 deliveries and was dismissed in the 18th over which ended the game technically. SRH was excellent with their variations with the ball and eventually won the game by a whopping 31 runs while defending the low total of 118 runs to win.

VVS Laxman extremely proud

Brief Scores

Sunrisers Hyderabad 118 after 18.4 overs (K Williamson 29, Y Pathan 29; M Markande 2/15, H Pandya 2/20)

Mumbai Indians 87 after 18.5 overs (S Yadav 34, K Pandya 24; S Kaul 3/24, B Thampi 2/4, R Khan 2/11)

Result: Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 31 runs

Man of the Match: Rashid Khan

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