IPL 2017 | Dhawan half-century propels SRH five points clear of KXIP in playoff race

05/08/2017

Shikhar Dhawan produced a composed 62-run innings to chase down Mumbai’s paltry total of 138 with 10 balls to spare. The win keeps Hyderabad on track to making the playoffs whereas, after the third loss of the season, Mumbai will now have to beat Kolkata to secure the top spot on the table.

Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 138/7 (Rohit Sharma 67, Parthiv Patel 23; Siddarth Kaul 3/24, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/29) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad 140/3 (Shikhar Dhawan 62, Moises Henriques 44; Jasprit Bumrah 3/24, Mitchell McClenaghan 1/26) by 7 wickets.

Mumbai Indians’ skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bat first, sensing rain in the Hyderabad air. While the table-toppers went with the same XI that beat Delhi Daredevils by a record 146 runs, Hyderabad made as many as three changes to the squad. Afghan spinner Mohammad Nabi was recalled to the playing XI ahead of Kane Williamson while Mohammed Siraj and Bipul Sharma came in for the injured Ashish Nehra and Vijay Shankar respectively.

Siddarth Kaul puts Mumbai on the backfoot

After Punjab lost their game against Gujarat yesterday, the Sunrisers’ destiny sits on their own hands and the defending Champions looked intent on making the most of the opportunity. Playing just his second game in the IPL, Afghan spinner Mohammad Nabi sent the dangerous Lendl Simmons packing in the second over with the scoreboard reading just 4. Parthiv Patel and Nitish Rana tore into Mohammed Siraj, taking 16 runs off his over but the joy didn't last long as Rana was dismissed for just 9. At the end of the powerplay, Mumbai found themselves with a run a ball score of 36 runs and from there on things got worse for the visitors. As the field was spread out, Patel mistimed a ball straight down the throats of David Warner at long on. Mumbai tweaked their batting lineup by promoting Hardik Pandya up the order and partnering his captain, Pandya Jr started consolidating MI’s innings. Over the next four overs, the visitors could only manage a single boundary to take the scoreboard to 59 at the midway point of the innings.

Rohit Sharma’s fifty takes Mumbai to a modest score

Pandya was struggling to adjust to the slowness of the pitch but his captain finally looked like he was upto the challenge by hitting leg-spinner Rashid Khan- his kryptonite of late, for a six over long-on. He followed that up by taking 8 runs of a Bhuvneshwar Kumar over before smashing Moises Henriques for 15 in the next. But just as it looked like Mumbai were readying an onslaught, Rashid dismissed Pandya ending the 60-run stand for the table toppers. Sharma brought up just his third fifty of the tournament and with a six off Bhuvneshwar in the 18th over, he took his team’s run rate to over seven for the first time in the match. But keeping with the trend of the game, Sharma was dismissed on the first ball of the penultimate over to bring the curtains down on a 45-ball 67-run innings. The death over expert, Bhuvneshwar, claimed two wickets in the last over, giving away just six runs to restrict the two-time Champions to a below-par score of 138/7.

Dhawan throws a spanner in Mumbai’s early works

Needing to defend a sub-par score of 139, SRH got off to a disastrous start with orange cap holder Warner falling for a mere six runs- his second lowest score in the tournament. But the hosts took 11 runs in the third over and repeated the feat in the fifth to stay ahead of the required run rate. At the end of the power play, the defending Champions found themselves in a comfortable position with a score of 43/1 with Henriques, in particular, looking in good touch. With the bowlers struggling, Mumbai opted to regroup themselves but it had a counter effect on the team as Shikhar Dhawan emerged from his shell and started having a go at the Mumbai bowlers. Over the next four overs, the hosts managed to score at a run rate of a tad over 10 to take the team to 83/1 and brought the required run rate to below six an over.

Hyderabad condemn Mumbai to third loss of the season

Needing just 56 runs in the last 10 overs, Henriques appeared to be in a hurry to finish the game as he smashed Lasith Malinga for two back-to-back boundaries. But the hurry proved to be his undoing as a leading edge to extra cover ended his hopes of getting his fourth half century of the tournament. Yuvraj Singh, who picked up an injury in the first innings, appeared to be struggling and was sent back for 9. However, Dhawan and Vijay Shankar saw out the game for their team with 10 balls to spare to strengthen Hyderabad’s hopes of securing a playoff spot..