IPL 2020
The Mumbai Indians won their third game of the season © BCCI
The defending champions of the Mumbai Indians put on a clinical display on Sunday (October 4) in the first game of the day to earn their third victory of the season and temporarily move up to first place. Chasing 209 for victory, SRH became the first team this season not to break the 200-race mark at this high-scoring venue as they were restricted to 174/7.
How did SSR manage without Bhuvi?
They were not bad. His replacement, Sandeep Sharma, did a pretty decent job and actually fired Rohit Sharma on the first change. Rohit in these conditions could easily have made a great score and actually started with a six on the fourth ball. But Sandeep threw one wide and the IM captain only managed a slight tickle to the goalkeeper, much to SRH’s delight.
He also threw a tight second on the power play before finally getting crushed in the second half of innings. After nearly ditching Hardik Pandya, Sandeep went on to pick up his second wicket when Manish Pandey dove fully to take out a blinding near the long limit to send a dangerous Ishan Kishan back to the pavilion. In his last over, he missed a couple of times and was punished by Kieron Pollard. While Sandeep conceded 41 in his 4 overs, which is considered nominal at this spot, it was Siddarth Kaul who hurt SRH with a costly display in his first game of the season. The pacemaker picked up two wickets, but cost 64 runs.
Who starred in MI with the bat?
It was a collective effort. Quinton de Kock ignored his poor form and took advantage of a respite provided by Pandey to record his first fifty of the season. Suryakumar Yadav showed off a glorious touch on the power play by playing some delicious shots, but once again failed to capitalize on his great start when he found the fielder with the short, thin leg of a pitch going down the side of the leg.
Ishan Kishan’s dangerous middle order. Pollard and Hardik Pandya combined to hit seven sixes and just when it looked like MI wouldn’t hit 200, Krunal Pandya came in and hit two fours and two sixes of the four deliveries he faced to bring them to 208. MI could have posted a lot more than 208 if it weren’t for another superb bowling display from the death of T Natarajan.
The impressive pace, which has already thrown the most Yorkers this season, hit its lengths once again denying both Pollard and Hardik numerous times. He ended up conceding just 29 runs on his spell and was backed by Rashid Khan previously. While de Kock fell while trying to face the spinner, MI in general was cautious against Rashid and Pollard even preferred to play him in the final 16th of the game. Its economy of 5.5 is easily the best in this place so far in this year’s IPL.
What went wrong in the search for SSR?
Two of the three foreign stars, David Warner, Jonny Bairstow and Kane Williamson, had to contribute to SRH presenting a challenge against this bowling attack. MI’s bowling attack was already broadly inclined to perform better than the other sides in Sharjah and they lived up to the reputation. Warner stuttered a lot early on, forcing Bairstow to literally throw his bat at everything.
He was successful for a time running at 25, but his window dented SRH in a big way. Pandey then took the lead with Warner still struggling to find his rhythm and at the end of the ninth, they ran to 86 and continued alive in pursuit. However, Pandey’s window, which was quickly followed by Williamson’s departure, dented SRH’s load and from there, only Warner could have prevented MI from closing this game.
Boult comes to the party
Adaptability is without a doubt the key in T20 cricket, as Trent Boult showed on Sunday. Known for swinging the new ball and putting the Yorkers to death, Boult changed tactics in the high-scoring stadium the moment Bairstow sent a full delivery from the ground. He used the cutters to great effect and got rid of the dangerous hitter by cutting off the rhythm of the ball entirely as he circled the wicket with a shorter delivery.
Bairstow was early on the pull and the mistimely shot resulted in his firing. He then cheated on his national teammate and patron Kane Williamson with another off-beat goalkeeper on delivery. Williamson, who wanted to ram the ball after sensing the length, couldn’t readjust as the lack of rhythm ensured a tickle for the keeper. When SRH needed 51 of 18 balls, Boult came back for his last over and conceded just 4 more runs, effectively ending the chase.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 208/5 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 67, Ishan Kishan 31; Sandeep Sharma 2-41) defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad 174/7 in 20 overs (David Warner 60, Manish Pandey 30; Trent Boult 2-28, James Pattinson 2-29) for 34 runs
© Cricbuzz
