IPL 2021: Mumbai defends 150 against Hyderabad with top bowling and fielding performances
A Kieron Pollard cameo, Rahul Chahar three-wicket haul and two run-outs from Hardik Pandya guided Mumbai Indians to a 13-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai.
Published : Apr 18, 2021 00:05 IST
Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar once again bowled Mumbai Indians to a convincing win, this time beating Sunrisers Hyderabad by 13 runs at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.
Chasing a modest target of 151, Sunrisers started strong, thanks to a 22-ball 43 from opener Jonny Bairstow. The Englishman, along with skipper David Warner, added 67 for the first wicket, setting a solid base for his side before he was dismissed hit-wicket.
Chahar then triggered another middle-order collapse with a spell of 3/19 before his MI teammates and pacers -- Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult -- finished things off for the defending champion.
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Earlier in the second session, Bairstow had cut loose in the third over, picking 18 runs off Boult with three boundaries and a six before hitting Adam Milne for two sixes in the very next over.
His innings, though, came to a tame end when he tripped on the stumps when trying to go deep inside the crease, attempting to hit a lap-shot against Krunal Pandya. At the other end, Warner was cautious during his knock of 36 before he was run-out by Hardik Pandya.
What followed was a similar story of the Sunrisers middle-order struggling to match the required run-rate and losing wickets against a tight bowling attack.
Valuable knocks from openers Quinton de Kock (40), Rohit Sharma (32) and some power-hitting from Kieron Pollard (unbeaten 35) at the end helped Mumbai post a competitive total of 150/5 after winning the toss and electing to bat.
The openers wasted no time in maximising the new ball and PowerPlay on a pitch that has shown to become progressively difficult to bat later on, getting 53 in the first six overs.
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De Kock started with two boundaries in the first over while captain Rohit punished the short balls, with a couple of sixes over the leg side.
Vijay Shankar then struck twice in quick succession, removing Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav to put the brakes on the MI scoring.
While Rohit mistimed a length ball straight to the mid-wicket fielder, Suryakumar fell to a ball that stopped on him, giving a simple return catch to Shankar.
In the middle overs, led by Rashid Khan, Sunrisers pulled things back steadily with the next fifty runs taking another 10 overs for Mumbai.
Pollard, who was dropped on 17 by Shankar, gave the innings some momentum, signing off with two huge sixes off Bhuvneshwar Kumar to get MI to 150, which eventually proved crucial.