Picture : Twitter/ IPL
Five time champ[ions Mumbai Indians once again fought back to win a low scoring match. This win over Sunrisers Hyderabad by 13 runs was their second victory in IPL 2021, at the M A Chidambaram stadium, in Chennai.
For the SRH though the tournament has begun on a disastrous note. They have lost all their three matches they played so far.
Earlier Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first. Openers Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock put on 55 in 6.3 overs before Rohit fell for 32. De Kock was out for 40 off 39 balls with nine fours . Surya Kumar Yadav ( 10) Ishan Kishan ( 12 ) struggled for runs . Hardik Pandya was out for 7. But thanks to unbeaten 35 by Kieron Pollard off 22 balls , 1 four and three sixes , two of the last over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mumbai Indians reached a somewhat fighting total of 150 / 5 in their 20 overs . The last over by Bhuvneshwar proved costly at the end of the match.
SRH bowlers did well to restrict the powerful Mumbai Indians batting line-up. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was expensive 0/45 ( 4 overs), Khaleel Ahmed 1/24 ( 4 overs), Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2/29 ( 4 overs), Vijay Shankar 2/19 ( 3 overs), Rashid Khan 0/22 ( 4 overs)
In reply , SRH began slowly with three overs for 5 . But soon the new opening pair of Skipper David Warner and Jonny Bairstow exploded. Bairstow in particular was brilliant with his stroke-play and took the attack to the Mumbai Indians bowlers and at one point threatened to take the match away. The duo put on 67 in 7.2 overs. Bairstow was unlucky to be dismissed hit wicket for a fine 43 off 22 balls with three fours and four sixes. Warner struggled for his timing and was run- out by a brilliant throw by Hardik Pandya. These twin blows rocked SRH . And their batting already under fire especially the middle order collapsed yet again . Manish Pandey flopped for ( 2), unknown Virat Singh ( 11) , Abhishek Sharma ( 2), Abdul Samad ( 7) run-out another Hardik Pandya brilliance. Vijay Shankar tried hard for his 24 but the rest could not.
The absence of Kane Williamson is hurting SRH big. SRH were bowled out for 137 in 19.4 overs thus losing the match by 13 runs. SRH head Coach Trevor Bayliss, Director of cricket operations Tom Moody and mentor VVS Laxman will have to put on their thinking caps fast regarding the playing eleven in order to bounce back . Three loses have totally exposed the team. And it faces the danger of finishing last on the table.
Here’s a look at the Points Table after Match 9 of #VIVOIPL. pic.twitter.com/6VQkhx6K06
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 17, 2021
Mumbai Indians bowling was top class with the dynamic duo Of Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah and the spin of Rahul Chahar. Trent Boult 3/28 ( 3.4 overs), Rahul Chahar 3/19 ( 4 overs) Jasprit Bumrah 1/14 ( 4 overs), Krunal Pandya 1/30 ( 4 overs)
