IPL 2020: Sunrisers Hyderabad punch ticket for play-offs

The sun rose for Hyderabad while Kolkata disappeared into the night. The Sunrisers Hyderabad became the final team to punch their ticket for the IPL play-offs following a comprehensive victory over already qualified Mumbai Indians in Sharjah on Tuesday night.

The 2016 champions hardly broke a sweat as they made short work of a modest target of 150 set by the defending champions, winning by 10 wickets and with 17 deliveries to spare.

The victory in the last league fixture at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium saw David Warner’s side pinch the last berth from Kolkata Knight Riders on net run rate after both teams finished on 14 points each.

The Trevor Bayliss-coached Sunrisers will lock horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Eliminator in Abu Dhabi on Friday night, while the Mumbai Indians square off against the Delhi Capitals in Dubai on Thursday night.

The victory came about through the openers Warner and Wriddhiman Saha, who guided them home without a hiccup.

Warner unfurled an unbeaten 85 from 58 deliveries with 10 boundaries and a six, his 48th IPL half-century and his highest score this season, while Saha made an unbeaten 45-ball 58 with seven fours and a six, the eighth fifty of his IPL career.

Earlier, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem and Jason Holder came up with fine spells to help the Sunrisers Hyderabad restrict Mumbai Indians.

Pacer Sharma returned with three for 34, while left-arm spinner Nadeem and Holder picked two wickets each. Holder, the West Indian all-rounder, completed 100 scalps in T20 cricket.

Kieron Pollard top scored with a 25-ball 41 that contained four sixes and two boundaries. In the process, the big-hitting West Indian crossed 3000 runs in the IPL.

Put into bat, Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma, who was passed fit after missing four matches, got out tamely, tipping Sandeep Sharma’s slower delivery to David Warner at mid-off.

Quinton de Kock, the other opener, slammed Sharma for a boundary and two successive sixes off three balls but the bowler got his revenge with the South African chopping a wide full toss onto his stumps.

It marked Sandeep Sharma’s 53rd wicket in the powerplay in the IPL, as he surpassed Zaheer Khan’s tally of 52 scalps.

It was a meandering Mumbai Indians innings with them reaching 48 for two in the powerplay. Suryakumar Yadav was on 19, while Ishan Kishan was yet to open his account. They then went on to reach 78 for two in 10 overs.

The pair put on 42 runs for the third wicket before the Mumbai Indians lost two quick wickets. Suryakumar Yadav edged Nadeem to wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha before Krunal Pandya fell for nought, caught by Kane Williamson at short midwicket.

Saurabh Tiwary was caught by Saha off Rashid Khan, while Kishan’s stay came to end after he was castled by Sharma.

The Mumbai Indians rested pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult as well as Hardik Pandya.

Brief scores:

Mumbai Indians: 149-8 in 20 overs (Kieron Pollard 41, Suryakumar Yadav 36, Ishan KIshan 33, Quinton de Kock 25, Sandeep Sharma 3-34, Shahbaz Nadeem 2-19, Jason Holder 2-25) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad: 151 for no loss in 20 overs (David Warner 85 not out, Wriddhiman Saha 58 not out) by 10 wickets.

Teams:

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (C), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Pattinson, Rahul Chahar, Dhawal Kulkarni.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (C), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Priyam Garg, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad, Rashid Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Sandeep Sharma, T Natarajan.

james@khaleejtimes.com

• IPL 2024
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