IPL 2018: Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers choke Mumbai Indians to win low score thriller

Even though their batsmen had provided them 118 runs to defend, the quality of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s bowling attack shone through at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday. Sandeep Sharma exerted the early pressure while Rashid Khan and Siddharth Kaul strangulated the lower order to send Mumbai Indians crashing to a humiliating 31-run loss. (MI vs SRH HIGHLIGHTS)

Nothing has gone right for the defending champions in the 2018 Indian Premier League, this being Mumbai Indians fifth defeat in six games. (MI vs SRH SCORECARD)

After being bowled out for a lowly total, it was about going for the wickets for Sunrisers. At the start of the 13th over, Mumbai Indians needed 57 off 48 balls. The game was in the balance. The hosts were in need of a couple of big hits to push back the Sunrisers charge while the visitors were in the hunt of couple of wickets to built pressure and take the game to the wire.

At the crease was Kieron Pollard. The Mumbai Indians batsman smashed a six but from the other end he was up against Rashid Khan. The out of form player simply looked psyched at the leg-spinner’s sight and nicely guided the leg-break into the slip fielder’s hand. MI’s plan of approaching the chase cautiously had backfired. When the top-scorer of their innings, Suryakumar Yadav (34 runs), fell at the total of 77, Mumbai Indians’ hopes lay dashed. The hosts were all out for 87 in 18.5 overs.

The poor batting effort had undone the inspired bowling performance of the home team’s bowlers. Having elected to bowl, pacers Mitchell McCleneghan and Hardik Pandya provided them the start they were hoping for. McCleneghan made the early inroads and Hardik Pandya kept up the pressure in the middle overs.

They were outstanding in the powerplay overs. The left-arm pacer from New Zealand has become adept at using the Wankhede wicket and bowled three of the first six overs for a return of 3-0-22-2. Pandya delivered an equally telling blow when he had Manish Pandey caught in the covers by captain Rohit Sharma. It was a night when nothing went right for Sunrisers Hyderabad batsmen. Shakib Al Hasan was run out by Suryakumar while backing up too far. And, it meant they had a low total to fight with.

To the delight of the Sunrisers dugout, their bowlers provided another proof why they are rated as the best attack in the tournament. They rattled Mumbai Indians early with Sandeep Sharma doing the damage with a spell of 3-0-9-1. The sight of 22 runs for three wickets in six overs had the alarm bells ringing; it was the lowest powerplay score in this IPL, and MI’s fourth lowest ever in the IPL. Their skipper Rohit Sharma was also back in the hut.

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From 21 for three, Yadav and Krunal Pandya had built the score to 61. But, their hopes of a decent partnership never materialised and the hosts crashed to an embarrassing defeat.