The Sunrisers Hyderabad were on their way to restrict the Mumbai Indians to a very low score in the IPL 2019 match in Hyderabad on Saturday when the visitors were reduced to 86/6 in the 17th over. However, one drop catch changed the complexion of the match. In the second ball of the 18th over, when Pollard was batting on 8, the Mumbai Indians batsman slashed an off-cutter bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar towards sweeper cover. Rashid Khan covered a lot of ground and got into a good position to take the catch, but failed to hold on to it. ((Full Scorecard))

Pollard, who was also dropped in the penultimate ball of the innings by Mohammad Nabi, went on to score 46* runs off 26 balls to help Mumbai Indians post a respectable total of 136/7. The Sunrisers conceded 39 runs in the last two overs of the innings.

A target of 137 runs shouldn’t have been much of a problem for the Sunrisers, but another West Indian Alzarri Joseph stepped up and picked up the best figures in IPL history to guide Mumbai to a 40-run victory. Joseph, who made his IPL debut in this match, picked up figures of 6/12, beating Sohail Tanvir’s 11-year-old record of 6/14.

It’s a dream start, can’t get better than this. I just wanted to bowl to the plans. When they said I was playing, I decided to keep it simple and back myself,” Joseph said.

“When I got my first wicket, I had a muted celebration since I was focused on the game that we had to win. The boys are really playing well, lot of hard work, so all we need to do is go to the park and show them what we can do.”

Chasing 137 for victory, Hyderabad were dismissed for just 96 in 17.4 overs with Deepak Hooda top-scoring with 20.

(With inputs from agencies)

First Published: Apr 07, 2019 00:52 IST