PTI
MUMBAI, April 25
Mumbai Indians (MI) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 20 runs in Match 23 of the eight edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 at Wankhede, Mumbai. Lendl Simmons was the top-scorer for them and Lasith Malinga was the best bowler for Mumbai Indians. He was also the Man of the Match for his brilliant spell.
Sunrisers Hyderabad had a good start from their openers but Mumbai struck back with wickets in the middle overs to put pressure on the un-tested SRH middle order. The chase went deep and Mumbai came on top as they bowled really well. They will be delighted with the win, their second one in IPL 2015 and will want to build on it going ahead. Sunrisers Hyderabad will be disappointed as they had a very good chance of chasing this down but failed to finish the game in their favour. They will look to be more consistent going further into the tournament.Sunrisers Hyderabad started their chase brilliantly with Shikhar Dhawan hitting some lovely shots. He took on Harbhajan Singh for 18 runs in an over and things looked really ominous for Mumbai Indians but Lasith Malinga struck to dismiss David Warner. Dhawan fell soon after a well made 42, trying to pull Mitchell McClenaghan towards mid-wicket but found Malinga. Blog: Mumbai Indians vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, Match 23 IPL 2015 at Wankhede
Naman Ojha and Lokesh Rahul had the job of steadying them but the former holed out to long off off the bowling of J Sucith. Rahul kept rotating the strike but was too low, and when he managed to get one over the fence off J Sucith, runs suddenly started to flow for Hyderabad. Harbhajan Singh had an off day and he finished with figures of zero for 36 in his spell. Importantly for Hyderabad, they did not lose any wickets to him.
Rahul added 36 runs with Bopara before the pressure had the better off him, he too holed out to long off as McClenaghan struck again. The equation was always a good one for Hyderabad. With 44 needed in 24 balls, Bopara and Hanumna Vihari started to look for the boundaries. McClenaghan struck the crucial blow when he had Bopara caught at mid-wicket for 23. Malinga then struck thrice in over to seal the chase for Mumbai. He finished with figures of four for 23.
Earlier, in the day, Mumbai Indians were restricted to a score of 157/8 thanks to another brilliant display of fast bowling from the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers. Lendl Simmons hit a fifty to get Mumbai going but the Hyderabad bowlers came back well to keep taking wickets at regular intervals to ensure there were no big partnerships for Mumbai.
Rohit Sharma looked very good during his brief stay at the crease but threw his wicket away when on 24. Kieron Pollard played through but failed to accelerate as the bowling was top notch from Sunrisers Hyderabad. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of the bowlers for SRH as he picked up three for 26. Dale Steyn and Praveen Kumar chipped in with a couple each.
Mumbai Indians had won the toss and elected to bat first. Both teams made couple of changes, while Sunrisers Hyderabad brought in Trent Boult and Hanuma Vihari for Moises Henriques and Bipul Sharma; Jagadeesha Sucith and Vinay Kumar replaced Jaspreet Bumrah and Hardik Pandya for Mumbai Indians.