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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.