Riding on Kieron Pollard’s late innings pyrotechnics with the bat and Alzarri Joseph’s record-making bowling spell, the Mumbai Indians defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 40 runs on Saturday night.
The Mumbai Indians, put in to bat, struggled to come to terms with the sluggish surface at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad. One after another, the MI batsmen attempted to force their way out of trouble, but didn’t succeed and fell cheaply. After a cautious start, Kieron Pollard switched gears and rescued his team. Courtesy the Trinidadian’s blitz, MI scored 56 runs in the last four overs and finished at 136-7.
What one suspected was a competitive total ended up becoming a match-winning one after the debutant Alzarri Joseph ripped through the Sunrisers batting line-up; his 6 for 12 would become the best-ever figures in the IPL. MI bundled out the Sunrisers for 96 in 17.4 overs.
Standout batting performances
The Mumbai Indians innings was pretty much in second gear or third gear for most part of their innings. That was until Kieron Pollard took matters in his own hands. The Trinidadian celebrated the occasion of him becoming the Mumbai Indians’ most-capped player with a stroke-filled innings. After coming out to bat at number six, he took his time initially – scoring only 8 runs of the first 12 balls he faced; he was handed a reprieve at that point when Rashid Khan put down a catch at the extra cover boundary.
Pollard made the hosts pay for that lapse by smashing four sixes and two fours. He finished unbeaten on 46 from the 26 balls and would be the only batsman in the match to score more than 20.