A masterclass with the ball by Rashid Khan and nerves of steel with the bat from Deepak Hooda guided Sunrisers Hyderabad to tense one-wicket win over Mumbai Indians at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium yesterday.
After winning the toss, Hyderabad put Mumbai in to bat, and their bowlers, led by Khan, restricted the visitors to 147-8 – a total the hosts made difficult work in chasing down.
A 62-run opening partnership by Wriddhiman Saha (22) and Shikhar Dhawan (45) set up the reply as Hyderabad looked set to cruise to victory.
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But a top-order collapse, that saw Hyderabad slip to 89-4 and then 137-9, ensured a nervy end to the match. However, Hooda’s 32-run knock, which included a much-needed six off the first ball of the final over, saw the hosts over the line. No 11 batsman Billy Stanlake was Hyderbad’s hero, scoring a four off the final ball, even though a single would have sufficed.
Hyderabad’s victory, however close, was delivered by the bowlers, who collectively kept Mumbai’s run-rate low and picked up wickets at key times before partnerships could fully form.
But it was Khan – the world’s top-ranked T20 bowler – did much of the damage, as the Afghanistan spinner took the wicket of Ben Cutting while giving away just 3.25 runs an over. Khan’s 18 dot balls was the joint-most by a spinner in IPL history.
With their second win in as many matches, Hyderabad now top the IPL standings, edging ahead of the also unbeaten Chennai Super Kings on net run-rate.
Mumbai, still searching for their first win of the season, are in sixth place, but could drop to second-bottom of the eight-team league if Royal Challengers Bangalore defeat Kings XI Punjab in today’s match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
