Mustafizur Rahman finally managed to taste a win in the Indian Premier League 2016 when the Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Mumbai Indians by seven wickets at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad yesterday. Hyderabad bring Bipul Sharma in for Karn Sharma and Mumbai induct Martin Guptill for Pollard.
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The consolation effort: Batting at five with the score 4-72 in the 14th over, Krunal Pandya watched in relief as Shikar Dhawan running back from cover spilled the catch. Although they have strong players like Jos Buttler and Ambati Rayudu, but the captain is the one around whom the team bats. He scored his 25th IPL fifty off 42 balls and then proceeded to score the next 40 in just 17 balls to take his team home with the help of seven fours and four sixes.
Moreover, he too lauded Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner for his blazing knock of 90* that powered the hosts chase of 143 runs.
The moments: Warner had raced to 18 off 9 balls when Southee deceived him with a slower ball that Warner lobbed in the air wide of Rohit Sharma at mid-off. The Sunrisers bowlers, for the first time in the tournament, lived up to the expectations. They have lost their two matches against RCB and KKR, but desperately need a win at this point in time to muster the confidence. Warner made his half century off 42 deliveries, before accelerating in a flawless Twenty20 batting display to reach 90.
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has not been at his best recently, but has more than enough experience to bounce back.
The wicket ended the 62-run stand for the second wicket.
“But we won’t make excuses for anything we’ve done, we’ve not started well so far but we do believe that we have got a very good squad of players that are capable of making it through to the playoff games”. He built crucial partnerships with Henriques, Morgan and with Hooda that ensured the victory for the Sunrisers camp.
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New Zealand pacer Mitchell McClenaghan has been the stand-out performer among the Mumbai bowlers. On the other hand, Mumbai Indians who are winning a match and losing the other are searching for consistency with the match. Englishman Eoin Morgan (11) did not contribute much as he was out, courtesy an outstanding catch by Hardik Pandya at deep midwicket off the bowling of Southee. Warner and Henriques added 17 more runs in the next two overs to put the home side in a comfortable position with 66 runs on the board at the half-way mark.
