Tripathi keeps SRH hopes up
MI’S good start and a late David knock raise hopes but SRH eke out a narrow victory
MUMBAI: Umran Malik was wayward in his first over and ended up conceding 17 runs. But he gathered his thoughts, regained his control and finished with figures of three for 23 to help Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Mumbai Indians by three runs and keep their slim chances of qualifying for the IPL playoffs alive.
Sunrisers Hyderabad posted 193/6—their second highest total this season—riding on Rahul Tripathi’s 44-ball 76 and useful contributions from Priyam Garg (42, 26b) and Nicholas Pooran (38, 22b).
It was Sunrisers Hyderabad’s first win after losing five straight matches and moved them to 12 points. They face Punjab Kings in their last match on Sunday and their chances of qualifying will depend on other results going their way.
MI were cruising with skipper Rohit Sharma (48, 36b) and Ishan Kishan (43, 34b) stitching a first-wicket stand of 95 from 65 balls—their highest in this edition of IPL. Both were dismissed in the space of six balls and with it perished Mumbai Indians’ chances of victory. Mumbai Indians have struggled to close out matches while chasing this season and they again failed.
Sharma holed out to midwicket off Washington Sundar (1/36), who saw the MI skipper dancing down the wicket and kept it short. Kishan too perished as he tried to attack Malik. He tried to chip a fuller deliver over mid-on but could only sky it with Priyam Garg taking a good catch running backwards.
Malik then dismissed Tilak Varma and Daniel Sams to pile the pressure on MI. Both were unable to deal with the short stuff that the Jammu & Kashmir fast bowler dished out.
Mumbai Indians were tottering at 127/4 when Tim David had just walked in to bat and they still required 67 from 30 balls. But he turned the match on its head with an 18-ball 46, including four sixes off the 18th over bowled by T Natarajan. But he was run out off the last ball as he tried to retain strike, and with it vanished Mumbai Indians’ chances of victory.
Earlier, Tripathi got his third half-century of the season—his highest score this season—and two 50-plus partnerships helped SRH post a decent total. His 43-ball 78-run stand for the second wicket with Garg set the platform for Sunrisers Hyderabad on a Wankhede Stadium pitch that was good for batting. Garg, playing his first match of the season, made full use of the reprieve he got when he was on 10 and attacked the Mumbai Indians bowlers.
His and Tripathi’s partnership made sure Sunrisers Hyderabad reached 97/2 at the halfway stage, which was the most runs they have scored in the first 10 overs this edition. Tripathi then was involved in a 42-ball 76-run stand with Pooran. SRH innings lost its way thereafter as they kept losing wickets. They could only score 29/4 in the last four overs.
Brief scores: SRH 193/6 (P Garg 42, R Tripathi 76, Ramandeep 3/20); MI 190/7 (R Sharma 48, T David 46, U Malik 3/23). SRH won by 3 runs.