Mumbai: The scenario did not change for the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the ongoing IPL as they suffered their 10th loss going down to the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by a tantalizingly close margin of three runs at the Wankhede Stadium here. Riding on a fine knock of 76 (44b, 9×4, 3×6), SRH posted 193 for six in their 20 overs before restricting the five-time champions to 190 for seven wickets to scrape out a narrow win by three runs.
The win took SRH to 12 points, but they continued to languish in the eighth position of the 10-team league table. For them other than pride nothing was at stake as they in reality do not have any chance of qualifying for the play-offs. Only if a number of other teams remain stuck on 14 points and SRH win their last game and the net run-rate comes into play, then only they have a very slim chance of remaining alive in the tournament.
Chasing a victory target of 194, MI started well with skipper Rohit Sharma (48, 36b, 2×4, 4×6) and Ishan Kishan (43, 34b, 5×4, 1×6) putting on 95 runs in 10.4 overs. However, once they departed in quick succession, MI lost their mojo and their batting lacked application and innovation. Umran Malik (3/23) was again fiery with the ball as he dismissed Kishan, David Sams and Tilak Verma to put the brakes on the MI chase. Tim David (46, 18b, 3×4, 4×6) played a blitzkrieg, but he had too much to do in too little time.
Earlier SRH rode on Tripathi’s knock and some good contributions from Priyam Garg (42, 24b, 4×4, 2×6) and Nicholas Pooran (38, 22b, 2×4, 3×6) to post a challenging total. Tripathi batted very well to register his third half century of the season. He and Garg steadied the innings with 78-run second wicket partnership after the early loss of the in-form Abhishek Sharma (9). Garg however, was lucky getting a reprieve when he was dropped on 10.
At the other end, Tripathi looked in his element. He smacked Jasprit Bumrah (1/32) for a six and back-to-back fours in the fifth over.
Once Garg was caught and bowled by medium pacer Ramandeep Singh (3/20), Pooran, who was promoted to No. 3, joined the party.
The MI bowlers, led by Ramndeep, were able to stage a mini comeback as they got rid of Pooran, Tripathi and Aiden Markram (2) in the space of eight balls.
Brief scores
SRH 193 for six (Rahul Tripathi 76, Priyam Garg 42, Ramandeep Singh 3/23) beat MI 190 for 7 (Rohit Sharma 48, Tim David 46, Ishan Kishan 43, Umran Malik 3/23) by 3 runs.
