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Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) lost their third game in a row in IPL 2021 as they went down to Mumbai Indians (MI) in yet another chase that went awry.
Chasing 151 in Chennai to get off the mark in the tournament, SRH seemed comfortably placed at 90 for 2. But the run out of David Warner triggered another batting collapse, as SRH fell short by 13 runs.
The start of the SRH innings was quite different, though. After the SRH openers, David Warner and Jonny Bairstow scored only five off the first two overs, Bairstow tore into Trent Boult.
The MI left-arm pacer was hammered for 18 runs in his third over. The first ball was smashed past midwicket for a four and the second guided between fine leg and deep square. The third ball from Boult, a slower one, was cracked over long-off for a maximum. The next delivery was a low full-toss and was slapped past extra cover for another four.
When Adam Milne was introduced, the SRH opener whacked him for consecutive sixes - one was a top edge that went over the ropes and the other was lofted over mid-on with ease. MI brought in Krunal Pandya to stem the flow of runs, but Bairstow launched the ball over wide long-on as SRH raced to 57 without loss at the end of the powerplay.
David Warner, who was struggling for timing, clattered Milne over midwicket for a maximum. Just when it seemed SRH were running away with the game, Bairstow (43 off 22) stepped onto his stumps while trying to ramp Krunal Pandya.
Manish Pandey (2) came and went, lofting Rahul Chahar straight to long-off to pile on the pressure on SRH captain Warner. However, he was run out for 37, going for a non-existent single. Virat Singh jabbed a ball towards backward point and was called for a run by Warner. Hardik Pandya, however, secured a direct hit to catch Warner well short.
With the pressure mounting, Virat Singh (11) drilled a short-of-a-length ball from Chahar into the hands of long-off. The implosion continued for SRH, as Abhishek Sharma (2) also perished to the leg-spinner, hitting a length ball straight to backward square.
Vijay Shankar came in and swatted Krunal Pandya for consecutive sixes. A length ball was slog-swept over deep midwicket., while the next ball, a short one, was launched over deep midwicket again.
There was no end to the drama, though. With 27 needed off the last three, Abdul Samad slammed a short ball from Boult for four. However, he was run out off the very next ball while going for a quick single, as Hardik Pandya scored his second direct hit, running in from extra cover.
Boult put MI in the ascendancy by trapping Rashid Khan (0) lbw with a superb first-ball yorker. Jasprit Bumrah then shut out SRH’s last hope, having Shankar caught at long-off for 28. Boult (3 for 28) cleaned up Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed in the last over to complete the formalities.
Kieron Pollard cameo lifts MI to 150
On yet another tough surface to bat on, Mumbai Indians struggled their way to 150 for 5 after winning the toss and batting first against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai.
Going into the last over of their innings, it seemed MI would be restricted to under 150. However, Kieron Pollard (35 not out off 22), who failed to find his timing for the most part and was dropped early on, launched the last two balls of the innings from Bhuvneshwar Kumar for sixes as 17 runs came off the last over.
The fifth ball of the last over from Kumar was an overpitched one and was clubbed by Pollard over long-on. The experienced SRH pacer missed his length off the last ball as well and was smacked to the on side for another maximum.
Earlier in Pollard's innings, Mujeeb Ur Rahman dropped one short and got launched over deep midwicket for a massive six. Except for the three sixes, most MI batsmen struggled to get a hang of the pitch.
The usually fluent Ishan Kishan took 21 balls for his 12. His misery ended when he was brilliantly caught down the leg side by Jonny Bairstow off a carrom ball from Mujeeb Ur Rahman.
Things looked a lot more promising for MI at the start of the innings, though. In the third over, when Mujeeb Ur Rahman was introduced, Rohit Sharma swatted a boundary over midwicket and followed that up by hoicking a six over square leg.
In the next over, a good length ball from Kumar was slaughtered over midwicket for six as MI ended the powerplay on an impressive 53 for no loss.
The introduction of Vijay Shankar, though, swung the momentum of the match. The medium-pacer took out Rohit Sharma (32 off 35) with a length ball that did not come on to the bat. The MI captain could only hit the ball straight to deep midwicket.
Suryakumar Yadav (10) came in and eased an overpitched delivery over extra cover for a six. Next ball, though, he chipped one straight back to the bowler, as the ball seemed to stop on him.
Although Quinton de Kock made 40, he ate up 39 balls and never got a measure of the surface. It was no surprise when he holed out to Mujeeb Ur Rahman. There was no momentum to the MI innings until Pollard found the middle of the bat towards the end.
IPL 2021: MI vs SRH - Man of the Match
MI leg-spinner Rahul Chahar was once again highly impressive. He made life extremely difficult for the SRH batsmen, picking up three wickets to keep his team in the hunt. Trent Boult also came back well after being hammered in his first spell, ending with three scalps.
Kieron Pollard played an excellent cameo of 35 not out from 22 to lift MI to 150. Rohit Sharma got MI off to a good start with the bat, contributing 32 off 25. Hardik Pandya did not score many but effected two brilliant run-outs.
Jonny Bairstow got the SRH innings off to a blazing start, smashing 43 off 22 before getting out hit wicket. Vijay Shankar put up a good all-round show, picking up the crucial wickets of Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav and contributing 28 with the bat.
However, it was Kieron Pollard who was named the Man of the Match for his match-winning innings, which eventually floored SRH.
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