Mumbai Indians (MI) have handed Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) their third successive loss in the IPL 2021 season as David Warner's men have been beaten by 13 runs in Chennai. SRH have now lost six games in a row at the venue, which is proving to be a fortress they are just not able to breach.
For the second game in a row, the MI bowlers have made a modest total look out of the opposition's grasp. The brilliance of Rahul Chahar in the middle-overs, coupled with the deadly combination of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult, ensured that SRH were bowled out inside their 20 overs.
Fans were absolutely ecstatic seeing the efforts of Rohit Sharma and his men in the field. They believe the defending champions are well and truly back on track after having lost their first game. Here is what they had to say about MI's fantastic victory that now places them at the top of the points table:
The MI skipper won the toss and, for the first time this season, elected to bat. Rohit and his men did their homework pretty well, understood the conditions and made sure they reached a total in the 150-160 range.
Although Kieron Pollard's handy 35* took MI to that desirable par score, SRH came out all guns blazing. Their decision to let Jonny Bairstow open the innings worked like a charm as the Englishman took the MI bowling attack apart.
Bairstow's 43 off 22 balls brought the equation down to almost a run-a-ball for SRH and it looked like they would win the game quite comfortably. But luck was on MI's side as the swashbuckling opener departed shortly, getting hit-wicket.
SRH suffered another body-blow as their talisman David Warner was run-out through some brilliant pieces of fielding from Hardik Pandya. Vijay Shankar's lusty blows off Krunal Pandya's bowling did take SRH's nose ahead in the chase once again.
But it was the world-class combination of Boult and Bumrah that once again delivered for MI under immense pressure. The duo gave away just 17 runs in the last four overs and picked up 4 wickets between them. MI have once again proved that they have the ability to adapt to changing conditions.