Champions League SRL | SS vs MI Evaluation Chart - Quinton de Kock’s 75* leads Mumbai Indians to easy victory

ByAakash Sivasubramaniam, SportsCafe Editor

05/05/2020

Despite the slow start from the Sixers’ openers, they got off themselves to a decent total of 160 for the loss of seven wickets at the end of their first innings. However, contrary to their belief, the total was not enough, with de Kock-Rohit Sharma leading the Indians’ charge for an easy victory.

Match Review

A remarkable recovery was needed from the Sydney Sixers’ middle-order after being reduced to 8/2 in just the second over of the encounter. And that was exactly what Steve Smith- Moises Henriques partnership did, with a valiant 62-run partnership that took them to 70 runs. Crucially, they just lost one wicket throughout the middle-overs phase, which helped them have a launch-pad ahead of the death overs. And the death overs was just carnage, as the middle-order and the lower-order combined to score 61 runs, taking them to a total of 160/7.

On the other hand, after winning the toss and letting the Sixers’ bat first, the target was right in front of the Indian side. They needed their openers to get them off to a safe start and just as the doctor ordered, the openers put up a safe stand, scoring 51 runs in the powerplay. Another safe passage through the spinners’ phase ensured that Mumbai were in no stage in a state of panic. And, in the end, the total was just as easy as Quinton de Kock’s unbeaten 75 which got them home well ahead of the last over.

Turning Point

Jasprit Bumrah-Lasith Malinga duo was overpowering in the first two overs of the innings, which also incidentally was the turning point of the game. The game turned right on its head from the word go, as Bumrah got rid of the dangerous Englishman James Vince before Malinga accounted for his partner Josh Philippe. It left them in tatters with a scoreline reading 8/2 in a 20-over contest.

Highs and Lows

De Kock- Rohit Sharma partnership is one to be cherished for a long time in Simulated Reality League. The duo are more than just a batting pair, they blend in beautifully to give the Mumbai side the right start in almost every encounter. This one was no different, with the duo putting on an 83-run-partnership for the first wicket. And, with that, the game, momentum and everything else was taken away from the hands of the Sixers’ side, who remained as clueless as to the viewers.

Josh Hazlewood’s first spell was probably the lowest point of the game, of course. While it was on par with Sixers’ batting start, it takes more onus as the game was still in their reach in the second innings. However, Hazlewood’s lacklustre display with the ball allowed the Mumbai-based side to get off to a good start, which not only made it a long day for all the other bowlers but also made the contest a relatively shorter one. Experience does help in T20 and should have in this case if Hazlewood had stepped upright.

Rating Charts

Powerplay exploitation: Sydney Sixers 4/10 and Mumbai Indians 7/10

Talk about a good start and Sydney Sixers openers have left the group. The duo of James Vince and Josh Phillippe failed, leaving them in a state of tatters at 8/2. And, from there, the task got tough for the Sixers’ middle-order as they could only get to a score of 31/2. If you have scored 31 in the powerplay overs against Mumbai, there is literally nothing that you could do to save the game from that position.

On the flipside, Mumbai’s opening partnership was a rather good one. It was like the epitome of T20 opening wicket partnership. Slow by the start with the required-rate just about 8 to scoring runs at a quick-rate later in the innings. The duo scored 83 runs for the opening wicket in just 10.3 overs, at nearly 8 runs an over, which is exactly what they needed in the run-chase.

Middle-overs manoeuvring: Sydney Sixers 6/10 and Mumbai Indians 7/10

While the Sixers’ middle-order approach was a good one - having elements of both aggression and watchfulness which helped them to a good total towards the end. Since the powerplay debacle, they did a crazily good job from the overs leading towards the death. With the loss of just Moises Henriques, they scored 68 runs, which helped them to finish the innings on a high.

Mumbai openers just picked it from where they left in in the powerplay overs, with solid batting. Not only did they score runs at a steady pace, the way they batted, but it also looked nearly impossible for the opposition to pick a wicket and create a root for chaos. They scored 74 runs in the middle-phase with the loss of just Rohit as Chris Lynn and Quinton de Kock put on a show.

Death bowling: Sydney Sixers 4/10 and Mumbai Indians 5/10

If there was a section on ‘Good, Bad and Ugly,’ the death over bowling from both sides would be surely featured in the ugly section. Just plain pure ugly performance from the Mumbai bowlers towards the end of the innings. In the first four death overs, Sydney scored 14,10,15,14, which ultimately helped them get to a total of 160 at the end of their innings. On any other day, this would have been the worst death bowling performance which would have also led to a defeat for the Mumbai side.

Sydney Sixers’ death overs bowling just lasted 20 deliveries, where they conceded 36 runs, which was enough for Mumbai to win the game. While it did have the wicket of Lynn in it, the phase was really a struggling one for the Sydney-based franchise as they could not grab hold of the contest in any of the different phases.

Match Frenzy O Meter - One-sided

If there was ever a game that would be called one-sided, this would be one of them. From the word go, Mumbai were on top, reducing them to 8-2 and towards the end, it felt more like a formality than a win. For the audience too, it had literally nothing apart from a few wickets and a dozen runs in between sandwiched on a cold bread.