MI vs SRH | Player Ratings - Manish Pandey’s superb half-century in vain as Sunrisers Hyderabad lose in Super Over thriller

05/02/2019

Yet again, Manish Pandey was at the centre of a brilliant game and almost ensured Sunrisers’ victory before it culminated in a Super Over loss. Mohammed Nabi also made significant contributions with the bat and that closed out the difference big-time before it ended up in a loss.

Wriddhiman Saha (6.5/10): Wriddhiman Saha is not a natural attacking player, but the ability to reinvent on a regular basis has made him a top cookie in the IPL. For the second consecutive time this IPL, the Bengal wicket-keeper batsman did well to give SRH a strong start with the bat with a fluent 25 runs off 15 balls. His impact could well be judged on the basis of Jasprit Bumrah’s reaction to his dismissal.

Martin Guptill (1.5/10): A fantastic T20 cricketer, Guptill found chances hard to come his way thanks to the presence of much-glorious pair of Jonny Bairstow and David Warner. When he finally got his chance, things didn’t fall in place for him as Guptill became Bumrah’s second dismissal of the evening. He should’ve taken a leaf out of Saha’s book and propagated through the power-play overs.

Manish Pandey (7/10): This was Manish Pandey’s third fifty in four matches and he seems like a man batting with a purpose. Although wickets were tumbling at the other end, the Karnataka batsman kept his cool and batted through to score a composed 71 off 47 balls. Wait until a hashtag for Manish Pandey for No.4.

Kane Williamson (2/10): If there was a day SRH needed their skipper to do well desperately, it was against Mumbai tonight. The top-order had been back in the hut and Williamson had a stiff mountain to climb. The process required patience and most importantly, understanding of situations. However, by playing an unnecessary sweep against the turn, the Kiwi skipper sent SRH to troubled waters further.

Vijay Shankar (3/10): It is difficult to explain, but Vijay Shankar has become more negative in his approach and the very reason which got him in the Indian squad in the first place seems to be absent. The Tamil Nadu all-rounder played out 17 deliveries for 12 and seeing that innings, one wouldn’t be wrong in saying that he was “hopelessly overrated”.

Mohammad Nabi (8.5/10): One of the things that Mohammed Nabi does the best is to propagate through the usual sanctimony of a holding bowler. However, once Quinton de Kock and Suryakumar Yadav found it easy to tackle him, Nabi didn’t bring any change to his bowling and waited for the batsmen to commit errors. While it is an effective strategy in Test cricket, that can’t be said about T20s and it is difficult to put his plan into perspective. However, his effort with the bat was impressive as he was responsible for game eventually going to super over.

Rashid Khan (4.5/10): The Afghan superstar has been the prime wicket-taker for Sunrisers Hyderabad and one of the reasons for their regular success. However, the season hasn’t been kind to him and the wickets still left him eluded. Despite that, the leg-spinner ensured he wouldn’t be a villain at least and by conceding just 20 runs in four overs.

Abhishek Sharma (5/10): The U-19 star rose to prominence by virtue of being the highest wicket-taker and run-scorer in the U-16 cricket, but the graduation hasn’t seemed to be that perfect. However, that dismissal was the easiest one could ever think of in the IPL and that possibly gave the youngster a lot to ponder about his life.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar (6.5/10): Simon Doull in his analysis was wondering why no one was trying to bowl short balls to Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar did follow that exact process. By dragging the length back, he posed severe questions for Pandya and eventually forced him to play a rash shot against him. It was a classic case of a player believing in understanding the weakness of the opposition and you trust Bhuvneshwar to live up to the faith.

Khaleel Ahmed (6/10): After returning from injury, Khaleel Ahmed has become more of an attacking left-arm pacer and someone who doesn’t mind going for runs in search of a wicket. Regularly attacked the good length and bowled a few bouncers in the process, Khaleel ensured that wickets would start following towards the fag end of the middle overs. Of course, he went for 42 runs but he picked three important wickets as well.

Basil Thampi(2/10): Replacing Sandeep Sharma in the team, Basil Thampi maintained his regular line and length, but on an unresponsive Mumbai track, he rendered ineffective. With the ball movement ranging from little to nothing, Thampi was trying to go for an edge, although it was established by then that going short was the best option available for them.