Sharjah: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) became the fourth team in IPL-2020 to qualify for the playoffs here Tuesday. They finished their league engagements with 14 points, the same as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). However, Sunrisers Hyderabad qualified on a better net run rate (NRR) after beating Mumbai Indians (MI) by 10 wickets.
Chasing a victory target of 150, SRH openers David Warner (85 n o, 58b, 10×4, 1×6) and Wriddhiman Saha (58 n o, 45b, 7×4, 1×6) knocked of the runs easily in 17.1 overs. And with it they ended the aspirations of KKR.
Going into the game, SRH needed a win to qualify for the playoffs. Any others result wouldn’t have helped them and they managed to win the game in style. They bowled well to restrict MI to 149 for eight after putting the opposition in. Then Warner and Saha administered the coup de grace with some dominating batting.
The MI bowlers did not have a chance against the two SRH openers. Initially Warner struggled and Saha dominated the scoring. But once Warner got in the groove, Saha was content to play second fiddle.
Earlier a quickfire knock from Keiron Pollard (41, 25b, 2×4, 4×6) helped MI post a fighting total of 149 for eight in the last league game of IPL-2020. However, in the end it did not prove adequate all.
Skipper Rohit Sharma was back in the MI side after an injury layoff. However, he failed to do much caught by counterpart David Warner off the bowling of Sandeep Sharma (3/34). Suryakumar Yadav (36), Ishan Kishan (33) and Quinton de Kock (25) all got starts but failed to convert those into substantial scores. It was left to Pollard low down the order to give some form of respectability to the Mumbai total.
The other bowlers who impressed for SRH were Jason Holder (2/25) and Shahbaz Nadeem (2/19).
MI will now face Delhi Capitals in the Qualifier 1, the winner of the game go directly into the final. SRH will play RCB in the ‘Eliminator’ the loser of the game will bow out of IPL-2020.
Brief scores: MI 149 for 8 (Kieron Pollard 41, Sandeep Sharma 3/34, Jason Holder 2/25, Shahbaz Nadeem 2/19) lost to SRH 151 for no loss in 17.1 overs (David Warner 85 n o, Wriddhiman Saha 58 n o) by 10 wickets.
