Sharjah: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) sealed a place in the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs after they beat Mumbai Indians (MI) by 10 wickets at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday (November 3).
After a fine all-round bowling display helped SRH restrict MI to 149/8, David Warner and Wriddhiman Saha’s -run opening stand powered SRH to a convincing win. Needing 150 runs to win, SRH came out all guns blazing. While Wriddhiman Saha set the ball rolling, creaming a six and a four in the second over and followed it up with two fours in the next over, David Warner slammed three fours in the fourth over.
The pair added three more fours in the next two overs as SRH moved to 56 after the end of six overs. The duo continued their merry ways and scored 33 in the next four overs as SRH reached 89/0 at the halfway stage of the chase, with Saha and Warner batting on 43 and 44 respectively.
It did not take too long for the pair to complete a hundred-run partnership and notch up individual fifties in the 12th over. A couple of overs later, Warner completed 500 runs in the season. While Warne remained unbeaten on 85, Saha scored 58* as SRH completed a comprehensive win on the first ball of the 18th over and with it, joined MI, Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the playoffs.
Earlier, Rohit Sharma returned to lead MI, who rested Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult and brought in Dhawal Kulkarni and James Pattinson in the playing XI. Meanwhile, SRH, who elected to bowl, replaced Abhishek Sharma with Priyam Garg. Sandeep Sharma gave SRH an early breakthrough as he dismissed Rohit Sharma in the third over after David Warner completed a good low catch at mid-off.
Quinton de Kock then took on Sandeep Sharma in the fifth over, creaming a four and two sixes. But the bowler had the last laugh as the left-hander, in the same over, dragged a full toss back on the stumps and got out for 25. Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan joined forces after de Kock’s dismissal and the two kept the scorecard ticking, adding 42 runs to take MI past 80.
But SRH struck back in the 12th over, courtesy a two-wicket over from Shahbaz Nadeem. First, the left-arm spinner got Surya out after Wriddhiman Saha did a brilliant job to catch Surya short of crease. Three balls later, Kane Williamson took a fine catch as MI lost Krunal Pandya.
Rashid Khan provided SRH their fifth wicket as he got Saurabh Tiwary out. The leg-spinner had a chance to scalp his second wicket but he could not hold on to a catch, while running towards the square-leg, as Ishan Kishan got a life.
Kishan and Kieron Pollard then took MI past hundred as the duo added 33 runs together. However, just when it looked that Kishan was upping the ante, Sandeep struck as Ishan mistimed his shot and dragged a ball back onto the stumps. While MI lost two more wickets, Pollard, who completed 3000 IPL runs, slammed 41 off 25 balls to guide MI to 149/8.
Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 151/0 (David Warner 85*, Wriddhiman Saha 58*) beat Mumbai Indians 149/8 (Kieron Pollard 41, Suryakumar Yadav 36; Sandeep Sharma 3/34) by 10 wickets.
