On a day when Hyderabad lost its former cricketer Abdul Azeem, who was the first player from South Zone to score a triple century in Ranji Trophy, to a kidney ailment, SRH suffered their third loss of the season out of five games to be stuck at the ninth position in the points table. MI moved to the sixth position.
Needing 193 for victory, Sunrisers didn’t get the start they needed. Jason Behrendorff, who missed the last game due to a niggle, made early inroads to put the hosts on the backfoot. The left-arm pacer got rid of centurion Harry Brook (9) in his first over and then had Rahul Tripathi (7) in the next over to leave Sunrisers at 25 for two in the fourth over.
Mayank Agarwal and Aiden Markram repaired the damage with a 46-run stand for the third wicket before Green struck by removing Markram (22). Leggie Piyush Chawla then got into the act and had Abhishek Sharma (1) caught in the deep.
As It Happened
Sunrisers were 72 for four in the 10th over when Heinrich Klaasen joined Mayank. This turned out to be the best part of the hosts’ innings as the duo added 55 off just 29 balls with Klaasen getting 36 off 16 balls with four boundaries and two over it. Klaasen and Mayank (48) fell in quick succession to decimate SRH hopes of pulling off a win.
Needing 50 off the last four overs, SRH finished at 178 with Arjun Tendulkar getting his maiden IPL wicket in the form of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Tim David played a key part in MI’s victory with a superb show on the field. He took four catches and ran out Washington Sundar with a direct hit.
Earlier, Green struggled in the initial part of the innings and needed 13 balls to score his first boundary – a six off Washington Sundar. But he bloomed in the company of N Thakur Tilak Varma with whom he added 56 for the fourth wicket. After Tilak’s fall, Green took charge of the proceedings and went after left-arm seamer T Natarajan, whom he struck for three fours and a six in the 18th over.
Mumbai Indians scored 62 in the last five overs with Green doing the bulk of the scoring. He remained unbeaten on 64 off 40 balls with six fours and two sixes. The visitors finished with 192 for five.
Tilak’s much awaited IPL game on home ground was a delight for the crowd. Coming into bat with the visitors not happily placed at 95 for three after 12 overs, Tilak showed why he is so highly rated among the young cricketers. The southpaw gave his team the much-needed momentum with a 17-ball 37 which contained two fours and four sixes. It was an exceptional innings as most of the other batters struggled to get runs.
Skipper Rohit Sharma was in an aggressive mood from the word go. He picked up Sundar for special treatment as he struck the off-spinner for three consecutive boundaries in the third over of the innings. He then welcomed Natarajan with two boundaries but the SRH pacer had the last laugh. Rohit tried to flick to the legside but with the ball holding up a wee bit, he got a leading edge which was gleefully accepted by Markram, who had a brilliant day on the field with three catches.
Despite Rohit’s bravado and Ishan Kishan’s two sixes, SRH bowlers held their ground and kept their rivals to 53 for one in the powerplay. The visitors were able to get 77 more in the 7-15 overs before Green turned the heat on the hosts at the death.
Watch SRH vs MI IPL 2023 Highlights: Mumbai Indians register third straight win