IPL 2016: Warner whirlwind takes SRH to first win

Brief Scores: MI 142/6 in 20/20 overs (Rayudu 54(49), Krunal 49*(28), Sran 3/28) lost to SRH 145/3 in 17.3/20 (Warner 90*(59), Henriques 20(22), Southee 3/24) by seven wickets

Although Dhawan left early, SRH skipper David Warner welcomed Mitchell McClenaghan into the attack in the second over by smashing him over the cover region for a maximum. The left-hander dished out similar treatment to Tim Southee in the next over by upper-cutting the pacer to register another boundary. However, the home crowd had their hearts in their mouths two balls later, as Southee outfoxed Warner with a slower ball. The left-hander went into the shot early and lobbed the ball to mid-off, where Rohit Sharma produced a brilliant full-length dive and nearly pulled off a one-handed special.

With the match slowly slipping away from their hands, Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma brought in Southee in the hope of picking a wicket, and the Kiwi repaid the faith of the captain by removing Henriques with his first ball. Although the away side broke the 62-run partnership, Sunrisers’ skipper Warner was still at the crease keeping the home side’s hope of a win.

The Aussie brought up his second half-century of the season in the 13th over by slapping Hardik Pandya in front of cover to run three. Although Eoin Morgan fell in the 15th over to Southee after Hardik Pandya pulled off a brilliant running catch at midwicket, Warner kept things going at the other end and took the team over the line with 15 balls to spare.  

On the other hand, Mumbai Indians had a terrible time at their home, losing two out of two, while their only win of the season came away at Kolkata. Kieron Pollard missed out on Mumbai’s second away trip of the season after being down with food poisoning, and Kiwi Martin Guptill came in for the West Indian for his IPL debut. The home side won the toss and opted to chase at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium in Hyderabad, having seen 10 out of 11 matches in the season won by the chasing side.

Martin Guptill waited a long while to get his first play in the IPL, but his much-anticipated debut did not go according to plan as Bhuvneshwar Kumar found a feather edge off the Kiwi’s bat to send him back in the opening over. After Hardik Pandya’s hat-trick of failures at No.3, Mumbai Indians opted to send Ambati Rayudu up the order instead of the all-rounder to make the full use of the powerplay. However, runs remained a luxury at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium as Bhuvneshwar and Barinder Sran kept the batsmen quiet in the first four overs. The lack of runs started to mount pressure on the batting and Parthiv Patel decided to up the ante in the fourth over by taking on Sran. Although the left-hander was successful in scoring two boundaries against the left-armer, Sran got his revenge in the last ball of the over by cleaning up Parthiv with a slow inswinger.

The scoring rate languished near the six-run mark till the 14th over, but Bipul Sharma’s 14th over changed the complete complexion of the match. Ambati Rayudu started the assault on the left-arm spinner with a straight six before Krunal Pandya took Bipul Sharma to the cleaners with three consecutive sixes to finish the over with 26 runs.

The over gave the momentum MI needed, as Rayudu and Krunal Pandya added 25 more runs in the next three to take their partnership to 63. Although Rayudu fell in the next over after a well-made 54 off 49, Krunal stuck to his mission and helped Mumbai post a fighting total of 142/6 at the end of 20 overs.