Shikhar Dhawan’s 62 off 46 balls led the Sunrisers Hyderabad to a seven-wicket victory against the Mumbai Indians, strengthening their qualification hopes.
The two teams have faced off nine times with Mumbai Indians leading the battle prior to the match, but a win for the hosts in Hyderabad levelled their head-to-head to 5-5.
With MI’s qualification spot already confirmed, the visitors won the toss and elected to bat. Their innings did not go as planned, as they lost wickets in quick succession and were reduced to 36-3 after 6.4 overs.
Mohammad Nabi struck first to dismiss Lendl Simmons (1) in the second over, followed by Nitish Rana (9) and Parthiv Patel (23 off 17 balls), who were knocked over by Siddarth Kaul (3-24).
This brought Rohit Sharma (67 runs off 45 balls) to the wicket, and he saved his side’s innings by bringing up his fifty off 34 balls, highlighted by five fours and one six.
The Indian international became Kaul’s third victim, however, at the beginning of the 19th over, but not before he had advanced the score to 126-5.
Hardik Pandya managed to chip in with 15 runs off 24 balls, but it was the final significant contribution as the visitor’s posted 138-7.
The Sunrisers’ innings possessed the steadiness and tempo that the MI’s innings lacked, despite the early departure of captain David Warner for only six.
Shikhar Dhawan and Moises Henriques took a hold of the match and the pair put on a 91-run partnership to take SRH from 1-7 (1.1 overs) to two runs shy of the 100 mark, as Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Henriques after a well-played 35-ball 45 (six fours).
Despite losing Yuvraj Singh (9), which dampened SRH’s chase at 112-3 (14.4 overs), Dhawan pushed his side forward as he posted a match-winning 46-ball 62 (four fours, two sixes).
Vijay Shankar (15 from 12 deliveries) smashed a boundary to claim a seven-wicket victory, as the reigning champions posted 140-3.
The victory pushed SRH five points clear of Kings XI Punjab in fifth, who currently sit on 10 points with two games in hand.
Photo: BCCI/Cricinfo
