TATA IPL 2024 Match 55 , MI Vs SRH - Match Report
The Mumbai Indians (MI) roared to victory at their Wankhede Stadium with a seven-wicket victory over the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). This is MI’s fourth win of the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, and it was powered by a scintillating century by Suryakumar Yadav and vital support from Tilak Varma during the run-chase.
Going by the general trend of the TATA IPL 2024, MI won the toss and chose to bowl against a power-packed SRH batting line-up. MI introduced Anshul Kamboj, the right-arm medium pacer, in their lineup. SRH brought back the experience of Mayank Agarwal to bolster their batting.
Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma were attacking during the powerplay and picked boundaries at regular intervals. There was real drama in the fifth over of the innings when Kamboj came on to bowl. Head was intent on attacking and hit a six off the second ball. However, Kamboj then had him bowled, only to see that it was a no-ball. Head then smashed the free-hit for a four and then hit another four. Just before the powerplay got done, Jasprit Bumrah got MI their first success when he got Abhishek (11 off 16) caught behind.
In the eight over, Mayank was dismissed as he was bowled by the debutant Kamboj. That was the problem with SRH’s innings as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Apart from their opening partnership of 56, none of the other partnerships got past 50. Numerous batters got starts but couldn't convert them into big ones. When Head was dismissed for 48 in the 12th over, MI had got a big wicket. At one stage, they were 136 for eight in the 17th over, which forced them to introduce the batter, Sanvir Singh as the impact player.
At the end, it was Pat Cummins’ aggressive batting which helped SRH cross 170. He scored 35 off only 17 balls, with two sixes and two fours, which took SRH to 173. The 37-run partnership for the last wicket was extremely crucial for SRH as it gave their bowlers something to defend. It also gave them heart considering the fact that KKR defended a similar score against MI at the same venue. The most successful bowlers for MI were their captain Hardik Pandya with three for 31 and Piyush Chawla also had a big role for three for 33.
MI’s run-chase had started very well as the openers raced to 26 inside two overs, with both Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma looking good. However, SRH then struck back by dismissing Ishan, who edged to slip off Marco Jansen. In the fourth over, Rohit top-edged one and it was caught by the wicketkeeper. Naman Dhir too was dismissed early when he edged to first slip off Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the fifth over. At 31 for three in the fifth over, MI were in big trouble.
Suryakumar then unleashed his class and took matters into his own hands, showing that attack is the best form of defence. It all started with a drive for four off Bhuvneshwar early in his innings. Tilak also joined in when he took the attack to Cummins in the sixth over. At the end of the powerplay, MI were 52 for three.
When the field spread out, it did not hamper Suryakumar’s approach as he picked 22 runs off Marco Jansen in the seventh over – smashing two sixes and two fours.
Thereafter, it was completely dominated by Suryakumar, who gave SRH bowlers no chance to make a comeback. Tilak held up one end, and it allowed Suryakumar to express himself at the other. Last year, Suryakuamr scored his maiden century in the TATA IPL at the same ground while batting first. This time, he dominated a run-chase and took his team home. Tilak had the best seat in the house as Suryakumar unleashed his best shots on the day to entertain the MI fans.
It took Suryakumar 30 balls to get to his fifty. What followed was an exhibition of some attacking T20 batting as he raced to his next fifty in only 21 balls. Victory was achieved when he smashed T Natarajan for a six in the 18th over to get to his century and take MI home to victory.
MI won with 16 balls to spare. Suryakumar was the star with a memorable century.