Cameron Green's all-round show helped Mumbai Indians seal their third straight victory of the season as they beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 14 runs on Tuesday night at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
Batting at number three, Green first scored an unbeaten 68 off 40 to help Mumbai post 192/5 and then bowled a super tight 19th over, conceding just 4 runs, to help Mumbai collect two points and move up to the 6th spot in the IPL standings.
The game also saw Arjun Tendulkar pick up his maiden IPL wicket, during the final over of the match, where he had 19 runs to defend and conceded just four and took the wicket of Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Mumbai Batted First, Posted 192/5
Put in to bat first, Mumbai Indians had a modest start as they scored 53/1 in the powerplay.
After two tight overs, Rohit Sharma hit a hat-trick of fours off Washington Sundar to accelerate the innings. In the process, the MI skipper completed 6000 runs in the IPL, before falling in the fifth over off the bowling of Marco Jansen.
Ishan Kishan then smashed a brilliant six off the penultimate ball of the sixth over. On the next delivery, he went for another six to deep mid-wicket. He got enough height but not the desired distance on it. The fielder dived in to get his hand to it but the ball didn't stick and Ishan survived.
The SRH bowlers were keeping a tight leash on MI's run rate after the Power-play as 17 runs came in next over with just one big hit as Cameron Green danced down the pitch and smokes it over the bowler's head for a maximum on the last ball of the ninth over.
Then, Ishan hit the paddle on the next and went for back-to-back boundaries against Mayank Markande to release the pressure. Halfway through MI were 80/1.
Ishan Kishan and Cameron Green steadied things in the middle before Marco Jansen struck twice in one over to shift the momentum.
After a brilliant save on the boundary on the last ball of the 11 over, Jansen came into the attack in the next over and struck twice. He first removed Kishan on the very first ball of the over. Kishan looked to thump it over long off but sliced it high over extra cover. Aiden Markram from mid-off ran back and dived in to take a superb catch.
Jansen then dismissed Suryakumar Yadav for 7 after conceding a six on the previous ball. Surya looked to play the lofted drive over mid-off but the ball stuck in the pitch and came off the higher part of the bat. The ball went high to the left of mid-off where Markram dived and takes another brilliant catch.
Then, local boy Tilak Verma brought the much-needed impetus to the innings. He along with Green counter-attacked and added a 50+ stand for the fourth wicket.
Tilak hammered two fours and back-to-back sixes on the last two balls of the 15th over to Jansen and collected 21 runs off the over. There was no stopping Varma as he hit a boundary and a six off the next over, giving some pace to MI's innings.
However, Tilak's crucial innings of 37 off 17 came to an end in the next over. After hitting a brilliant maximum to Bhuvneshwar Kumar, he fell on the next delivery while attempting another big one. He didn't get much elevation on his shot and Markande completed the catch.
The next over Cameron Green, who was promoted up the order in tough conditions, brought up his maiden IPL fifty off just 33 balls with a hat-trick of boundaries.
Green and Tim David together collected 14 runs off the final with the latter getting run out on the last delivery of the innings. With 62 runs coming off the last five overs, MI posted a competitive total of 192 for the loss of five wickets.
Hyderabad's Chase
Chasing 193, SRH got off to a slow start as they were reduced to 25/2 within four overs. Sunrisers suffered an early blow as Jason Behrendorff got the big fish Harry Brook, the centurion from the last game, in the second over. Brook went for the pull but he hit the splice of the bat and the ball went straight up. Suryakumar Yadav ran in from cover to take a catch.
Behrendorff claimed his second in the fourth over, dismissing Rahul Tripathi cheaply for 7. With 16 runs off the next two overs, SRH took the Power-play score to 42-2.
After the Power-play, Mayank Agarwal and Aiden Markram steadied the ship with their calculated batting, before Cameron Green removed Markram for 22 in the 9th over, ending a 46-run stand for the third wicket.
The next over, Piyush Chawla sent Abhishek Sharma packing for 1. Halfway through the chase, SRH was reeling at 76-4.
Then, Mayank Agarwal along with Heinrich Klassen got into a rebuilding act as the duo established 55 run fourth wicket partnership, which Chawla broke in the 14 over.
Mayank Agarwal and Aiden Markram of Sunrisers Hyderabad during match 25 of the Tata Indian Premier League.
(Photo: BCCI)
Klassen hit Chawla for a boundary and back-to-back maximums followed by another four. But Chawla was quick to revert as he sent Klassen back to the hut on the next delivery, reducing SRH to 127/5.
Riley Meredith got the big breakthrough in the next over as he denied Agarwal a half-century after dismissing the set batter for 48 in the 15th over and made the task tougher for the hosts as half of the side went back to the pavilion.
MI bowlers were keeping the SRH run rate in check with their economical bowling. Meredith piled up further misery on Sunrisers as he picked up his second wicket in the 16th over in the form of Jansen.
With 43 needed off 18 balls, Washington Sundar came and struck a couple of boundaries against Behrendorff in the next over, before getting run out on the penultimate ball of the over. Then, Abdul Samad ended the over with a four, bringing the equation to 24 off 12.
Cameron Green bowled a brilliant 19th over as he gave away just four runs, leaving 20 runs for Arjun Tendulkar to defend.
On the second ball of the final over, Samad got run out while coming back for the second. With 18 needed off 3, Arjun conceded just four runs on the two deliveries and also claimed his maiden IPL wicket as he dismissed Bhuvneshwar Kumar on the penultimate ball of the match to bundle out SRH for 178.
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