Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday thrashed Mumbai Indians by 10 wickets to take the last play-off berth in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), thanks to a blitzkrieg knock from captain David Warner.
The win at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium helped Hyderabad take their points tally to 14 from as many matches. However, due to a better net run-rate, Warner’s men qualified for the next stages ahead of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
After the outcome of Tuesday’s contest, MI finished the round-robin stage at the first spot with 18 points and is flowed by DC (16 points), SRH (14, net run rate +0.608) and RCB (14, net run rate -0.172).
In what was a must win game for them, Hyderabad restricted the strong Mumbai unit to a paltry total of 149/8. Shabaaz Nadeem, who was eventually declared the man of the match, took 2/19. Sandeep Sharma took 3/34, while Jason Holder returned with 2/25.
Chasing, Hyderabad rode on the brilliance of their openers, Warner (85 off 58 balls) and Wriddhiman Saha (58 off 45), as they scripted an unbeaten stand of 151 in 17 overs. It was the Hyderabad captain’s fourth half-century of the season, while for the Indian wicketkeeper-batsman, it was his second 50+ score this year.
The MI bowlers struggled to get breakthroughs and ended up remaining wicketless as the SRH openers comfortably steered their side home without enduring any hiccups.
Warner’s 58-ball knock was laced with 10 boundaries and a six while Saha smashed seven fours and a maximum.
Earlier, SRH restricted MI at 149/8 wickets in 20 overs, thanks to some impressive bowling efforts.
While pacer Sandeep Sharma starred after scalping three wickets for 34 runs, speedster Jason Holder and spinner Shahbaz Nadeem stepped up in the crucial match, picking two wickets each while leg-spinner Rashid Khan settled with one.
Asked to bat, MI were reeled at 82/5 wickets in 12.1 overs as their top-order — Quinton de Kock (25), Suryakumar Yadav (36) and Ishan Kishan (33) — failed to convert their good starts.
Keiron Pollard played a 25-ball 41 run cameo down the order as MI limped to a moderate total.
Brief scores: MI 149/8 wkts in 20 overs (Kieron Pollard 41, Suryakumar Yadav 36; Sandeep Sharma 3/34) lost to SRH 151/0 wkt in 17.1 overs (David Warner 85 not out, Wriddhiman Sahah 58 not out; Dhawal Kulkarni 0/22) by 10 wkts
With IANS inputs