IPL 2018: Match 23, MI vs SRH- Rating of the Match

When a team strains to get their strategies in place, they tend to experiment, more out of desperation than conviction. Prior to this game, Mumbai Indians (MI) never batted second and barring an odd occasion against the Delhi Daredevils (DD) they managed to flounder every other time. The occasion was set for Rohit Sharma’s men, Sachin Tendulkar’s birthday being the attraction of the day.

Rohit read the pitch as a decent one for batting, which was a mistake as the track turned out to be supportive to the bowlers. However, lady luck smiled on them and the decision didn’t backfire, though it was based on a completely different perspective. Meanwhile, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) implemented their own set of tactics, which definitely boomeranged on them.

Bowlers strangle the Sunrisers

Wriddhiman Saha, after he flopped as an opener and in the lower-middle order, was sent at number three and the move drooped. Kane Williamson misread the pitch as well and by the time they realized the same, they found themselves in an unwanted loop, due to which their innings capsized alarmingly. The pitch had a green sheen to it, which made the ball jag around.

Kane Williamson’s defence is hard to beat, bearing in mind the solid technique of the New Zealand batsman. An in-dipper by Hardik Pandya cut him in two halves, shattered his defence and traced into Ishan Kishan’s gloves. To add to the woes of the visitors, the ball gripped off the surface, which also meant that the spinners, as well as the cutters by the likes of Mustafizur Rahman, came into play.

Meanwhile, following the 11th over, it was Yusuf Pathan vs the Mumbai Indians. Since then, the Orange Army scored 33 runs off 53 balls, out of which Yusuf notched 21 runs off 20 balls. Subsequently, his partners kept perishing one after the other and the Sunrisers were bowled out. The Baroda batsman scored 29 runs, which might be insignificant by the looks of it, but how crucial it panned out to be.

Rohit’s statement goes for a toss

“It is a good pitch and it is hard ground to defend”- MI skipper mentioned the same prior to the game. In the end, SRH not only won the game but accomplished the same by a mammoth margin of 32 runs, much to the utter shock of Rohit Sharma and the Mumbai Indians. The pitch was difficult, but it didn’t have any demons for Mumbai to capitulate like nine pins.

The hosts could have taken heart from the fact that Bhuvneshwar Kumar wasn’t taking part in the game. They needed a calm and collected head and they got one in Suyakumar Yadav, who kept the scoreboard moving, slowly, but steadily, but that’s all that was required. Meanwhile, the worrying factor for was that the lineup had power-hitters who wasn’t skilled in the art of grafting and grinding.

Sunrisers, definitely had the ammunition in their armoury to hold their nerves. Most importantly, the efforts were collective. There were as many as 66 dot balls out of 113, which translates to 50 percent of the deliveries. It was a complete annihilation and Mumbai would want to erase it off their memories at the earliest. On the contrary, SRH displayed why they are regarded as the best in the business.

Rating of the Match- 4.5