Twitter Reactions: MI defend 208 runs comfortably in Sharjah to defeat SRH

The defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) have successfully defended 208 runs at Sharjah against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). The bowlers from both sides did well especially in the death overs and didn’t turn out to be a overly high-scoring game. But MI’s batting firepower helped them cross the 200-run mark and the target turned too much for SRH who lost the game by 34 runs.

After opting to first, MI lost their skipper Rohit Sharma in the first over itself after hitting a six. Suryakumar Yadav then started off well for the umpteenth time in the tournament only to get out on 27. At 48/2, Ishan Kishan and Quinton de Kock joined hands and played some exciting strokes taking advantage of the short boundaries. The duo added 78 runs for the third wicket with the latter scoring his first half-century in this season’s IPL.

Kishan also scored 31 off 23 balls with a four and two sixes. Rashid Khan snaffled De Kock for 67 while Kishan also got out in the 15th over with 147 runs on the board. Once again, Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard got together and tried to launch an assault in the death overs.

They were partially successful in it but the credit had to be given to SRH bowlers for executing their variations perfectly. They duo added 41 runs only in 26 balls before Pandya got out to Siddarth Kaul. MI, however, managed to cross the 200-run mark thanks to Krunal Pandya’s assault as he came out and swung his bat to score 20* off just 4 balls with two sixes and as many fours.

MI managed to finish on 208 runs for the loss of five wickets while T Natarajan was the best bowler in terms of economy for SRH as he conceded only 29 runs in his four overs.

Warner led the run-chase only to be in vain

David Warner needed to come back in form for SRH to have a chance to chase down 209. And he did exactly that. However, the rest of the batsmen kept getting out. Jonny Bairstow got out to Trent Boult after scoring 25 off 15 balls. But then Manish Pandey arrived and added 60 runs for the second-wicket partnership. Until this point, the chase was on track for the Orange Army.

But Pandey’s wicket courtesy James Pattinson turned the game on its head. This is where SRH struggled to up the ante as Warner realised the importance of staying in the middle till the end. But Kane Williamson and Priyam Garg got out in quick succession putting more pressure on the team. Rohit Sharma rotated his bowlers superbly and brought a change into the bowling attack at the perfect time to get the breakthroughs.

Meanwhile, Warner got to his half-century. It was a calculated knock in the chase from him but all his efforts went in vain when he got out to Pattinson in the 16th over of the innings as MI effectively closed out the game. Abhishek Sharma and Abdul Samad tried their best to get close to the target but Mumbai’s bowlers including Jasprit Bumrah were too good for the youngsters.

SRH could eventually reach only 174 runs to lose the game by 34 runs. This is their third loss of the season in five games while the defending champions managed to register their third win too.

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