Match Recap

In a thrilling last-ball finish, hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad held their nerve to outclass defending champions Mumbai Indians at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium on Thursday night. Given a target of 148, SRH began well and were on track to get over the line comfortably, before they lost wickets in a heap. SRH needed 11 off the final over with their last pair at the crease. Deepak Hooda hit Ben Cutting’s first ball for a six to bring the equation down to a run-a-ball. A wide, a dot ball and three singles later, the hosts needed one run off the final delivery, and Billy Stanlake chose that moment to hit his first-ever boundary in senior-grade representative cricket. SRH barely managed to get over the line, winning by 1 wicket, and as a result collecting their second win of VIVO IPL 2018.

Earlier in the evening, the Sunrisers captain Kane Williamson won the toss and inserted the visitors in. His bowlers kept picking wickets at regular intervals, and never allowed MI to stitch together any big partnerships. Opener Evin Lewis’ 29 was the top-score of the innings, and the 38-run association between Kieron Pollard and Suryakumar Yadav for the fifth wicket was MI’s biggest partnership in the match. MI, who were 54-3 at the end of the powerplay overs, could only add a further 93 runs in the remaining sixteen overs to finish at a below-par 147-8.

Standout batting performances

Shikhar Dhawan’s 45 was not only the top-score of the match, but also the innings that had the biggest impact on the match. The left-hander was aggressive during the time he spent at the wicket; he pierced the gap in the cover region and pulled well through midwicket, scoring six of his eight boundaries in the two regions.

Dhawan laid the platform for the chase by stitching together a 62-run opening stand with Wriddhiman Saha; his contribution in that partnership was 39. In the ninth over, he fell victim to the leg-spinner when he top-edged an attempted sweep and holed out to the fielder patrolling the boundary.

For Mumbai Indians, Evin Lewis’ 17-ball 29 was the standout knock; the Trinidadian muscled two sixes and three boundaries before he was deceived and castled by Siddarth Kaul’s knuckle ball.

Notable Support Act - Batting

The only other innings of substance in the match was that of SRH’s Deepak Hooda. The 22-year old came out to bat at the fall of the fourth wicket and opened his account with a first-ball boundary. But he wouldn’t get much of the strike over the next few overs, even as SRH lost five wickets in quick time. But when it mattered most, Hooda hit the innings’ first six – off the first ball of the final over – to once again swing the momentum in favour of his team; he remained unbeaten on 32, made from 25 balls.

Standout bowling performance

Overall, bowlers had a good day on the park; a total of 17 wickets fell in the match. Rashid Khan was the most impressive; the SRH leg-spinner returned figures of 4-0-13-1, but numbers will not do justice to how well he bowled. The Afghanistan lad kept the MI batsmen guessing all the time; he conceded a solitary run in his first over – the fifth over of the innings, conceded a solitary boundary in his second over, three singles in his third over and five runs (which included a wide) in his final over – the eighteenth of the innings.

The leg-spinner in MI’s XI was impressive too. Mayank Markande returned career-best figures of 4-23. He was brought on to bowl in the seventh over, and immediately gave his team the much-needed breakthrough when he dismissed the SRH opening batsman Wriddhiman Saha LBW. In his following over, he had the scalp of Dhawan and subsequently picked up the wickets of Manish Pandey and Shakib-al-Hasan. The 20-year old displayed good control and landed the ball consistently in the right areas, collecting a wicket in each of his four overs.

Mustafizur Rahman conceded 10 runs in each of his first two overs, but lived up to his billing as one of the top death overs bowlers. He conceded just three singles when called on to bowl the 16th over, and then conceded a solitary run and picked up two wickets when handed the ball in the 19th over. The Bangladesh speedster, used by Rohit Sharma as the sixth bowler, finished with figures of 4-0-24-3.

Stat of the Match

Rashid Khan bowled three overs of dot balls – or 18 deliveries in which he did not concede a run – in his four-over spell in this match.

Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 147-8 (Evin Lewis 29, Sandeep Sharma 2-25, Siddarth Kaul 2-29) lost to  Sunrisers Hyderabad 151-9 (Shikhar Dhawan 45, Deepak Hooda 32*, Mayank Markande 4-23, Mustafizur Rahman 3-24) by 1 wicket.

Man of the Match:  Rashid Khan, for his miserly bowling figures of 4-0-13-1