Press Trust of India
Visakhapatnam, May 8: Ashish Nehra (3/15) produced a sensational spell of pace bowling after Shikhar Dhawan (82 n o, 57b, 10×4, 1×6) shone with the bat as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) spanked Mumbai Indians (MI) by 85 runs in an IPL-IX encounter here Sunday. The victory helped them jump to the top of the points table.
SRH posted a challenging 177 for three after being put into bat and then dismissed Mumbai for 92 in 16.3 overs to carve out a facile victory.
Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahman (3/16), who has been in brilliant touch this season bowled well in tandem with Nehra to facilitate the triumph.
MI made a disastrous start in their run chase as they were reduced to 30 for five inside five overs with Nehra dismissing Rohit Sharma (5), Ambati Rayudu (6) and Jos Buttler (2). The match was as good as over for Mumbai from then on.
The defending champions kept on losing wickets in quick succession and were reduced to 54 for seven at the halfway mark. Harbhajan Singh top-scored with 21 not out while only two other batsmen could reach double-digit scores. They were Krunal Pandya (17) and Kieron Pollard (11).
Earlier, Dhawan once again played the sheet-anchor role to perfection for SRH, notching up his second successive unbeaten knock and his third half century of the season.
Giving him able support was skipper David Warner (48, 33b, 7×4, 1×6) and the two put on 85 runs for the opening wicket in 9.5 overs, providing the perfect platform for the home team to post a competitive total.
Another notable contributor was Yuvraj Singh (39, 23b, 3×4, 2×6), who was playing his second match after coming back from an injury lay-off.
SRH could have posted a bigger total but for some incisive bowling by senior Mumbai off-spinner Harbhajan (2/29). But then he lacked support from the other end.
Overall, it was a commendable display by SRH who excelled MI in all the three departments of the game – batting, bowling and fielding. Left seemed to be the right method for SRH with left-handed Dhawan top-scoring and left-arm pacers Nehra and Rahman doing most of the damage. Another left-armer Barinder Sran (2/18) supported them well while Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/23) and Moses Enriques also got into the wicket-taking act.
