Suryakumar Yadav proved why he is rated as the best batter in T20 cricket with a brilliant fighting unbeaten century that helped Mumbai Indians beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets with 16 balls remaining in Match 55 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday.
It is the first century for Suryakumar of the season and the first since December 2023 as he had missed the start of the IPL 2024 because of an injury and surgery for a sports hernia.
Mumbai Indians were in trouble at 31/3 after they had restricted SRH to 173/8 with skipper Hardik Pandya and experienced spinner Piyush Chawla claiming three wickets apiece. But just when it appeared that the Mumbai Indians innings would go the way it had in the previous match when they lost to Kolkata Knight Riders chasing a small target.
SKY's Unbeaten 102
Suryakumar had struck a half-century in that match but could not guide his team to victory. On Monday, SKY did not leave things undone as he played a brilliant innings, hitting shots all over the ground, and completing his century with a six as Mumbai reached 174/3 in 17.2 overs.
Suryakumar scored 102 not out off 51 balls, hitting 12 boundaries and six maximums, operating at a strike rate of 200.00 that left the Sunrisers players shell-shocked and the capacity crowd mesmerised.
On Monday, Suryakumar also became the second MI batter after Rohit Sharma to record 25 scores of 50-plus for Mumbai Indians in the IPL.
With this victory, Mumbai Indians moved to eight points from 12 matches and picked them up from the bottom to ninth position. SRH remained fourth with 12 points from 11 matches, the same as Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants.
MI's Poor Start
Mumbai Indians got off to a poor start as they lost Ishan Kishan (9), Rohit Sharma (4) and Haman Dhir (0) in quick succession as the hosts slumped to 31/3 in the fifth over.
Kishan started with a boundary off the first ball of the innings, clipping in through square leg as Bhuvneshwar Kumar drifted onto the pads. When he carved a widish delivery by Marco Jansen to the boundary despite slight movement, it looked like Kishan would trouble SRH a lot on Monday, But Jansen had his revenge when he made one move a bit to induce a leading edge from Kishan for Mayank Agarwal to pouch a simple catch.
Pat Cummins brought himself into attack inside the Power-play and the SRH skipper was rewarded Rohit Sharma skied a leading edge for Klaasen to run behind to take a difficult catch. Naman Dhir tried to hit his way out of trouble off Bhuvneshwar but perished for a zero.
SKY's Rescue Act
However, Suryakumar Yadav came to Mumbai Indians' rescue hitting a timely half-century. But unlike in the previous match, when he struck a fifty but could not guide his team to victory, on Monday, the Mumbai batter stayed put at the wicket, unleashed some brilliant shots, playing his usual 360-degree cricket to help his team to a memorable victory.
Though he appeared to be facing a bit of physical discomfort, Suryakumar Yadav, the best T20 batter in the World as per the ICC rankings, played some unbelievable shots and raised a century partnership for the fourth wicket partnership with Tilak Varma that pulled Mumbai Indians to safety.
After playing the first couple of overs cautiously, SKY drove Bhuvi through mid-off for his first boundary and a few deliveries later stayed deep in the crease and clipped Cummins for a six over deep third.
He waded into Marco Jansen in the seventh over, hitting him for two fours and two sixes, whipping, thumping and ramping him to the boundary with relish.
Tilak's Support
He completed his half-century off 30 balls, hitting five boundaries and three maximums in the process. Suya kept up the scoring rate with back-to-back boundaries off Jansen in the 13th over and with a six off Bhuvi and successive fours off Shahbaz Ahmed in the 15th over and a four off Natarajan took him into the 90s.
Tilak Varma proved an ideal partner to Suryakumar as he kept the other end intact, giving him company, encouraging his partner and hitting a few good shots as he remained unbeaten on 37 off 32 balls, studded with six boundaries.
With 24 needed from 24 balls, Pat Cummins brought himself, hoping for a wicket and hamper Mumbai's progress but SKY launched into him, hitting the Australia captain for two boundaries and a six, three pulled boundaries that left the capacity crowd mesmerised. Suryakumar Yadav moved into the 90s and then completed his century with a six, sealing Mumbai Indians' fourth victory in IPL 2024.
What Happened in the First Innings?
In the first innings, MI skipper Hardik Pandya finally found his bowling mojo as he claimed a three-fer along with veteran spinner Piyush Chawla as Mumbai Indians restricted SRH to 173/8 .
Pandya, who had bowled sporadically in the 11 matches that MI had played in this event so far, grabbed 3-31 while Chawla was economical as usual as he claimed 3-33 as Mumbai Indians struck back after SRH had raced to fifty runs in the fifth over after being asked to bat first on a pitch that sported a bit of green tinge.
Chawla claimed the wickets of the dangerous Travis Head, who top scored for SRH with 48 off 30 balls (7x4, 1x6) and Heinrich Klassen (4) to apply brakes on the visitors' progress in the middle overs.
MI Pulled Things Back
Sunrisers Hyderabad made a brisk start and raced to fifty in five overs with Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma starting in typical fashion. However, Mumbai Indians pulled them back a bit, claiming five wickets within the next fifty runs as SRH slumped to 96/5.
On a wicket that was providing even bounce despite the presence of some grass on the surface, the experienced Jasprit Bumrah, as has he done earlier too, provided the breakthrough, coming into the attack as the first-change bowler.
He struck in the last over of the Power-play when his length delivery held its line and took the outside edge as Abhishek played at it with little footwork, Ishan Kishan made a superb diving attempt to take a nice catch. Abhishek made 11 off 16 balls, a six off Anshul Kamboj being the lone boundary he hit on Monday.
Maiden IPL Wicket for Debutant Anshul Kamboj
Mayank Agarwal, brought in to bolster the batting, lasted just six balls. Debutant medium pacer Anshul Kamboj, who opened the bowling with Nuwan Thushara but was taken to 13 runs in his first over and 19 in his second, took Agarwal as his first wicket in IPL when he cleaned him up with a delivery that moved in a bit to beat the leg-side heave that the batter attempted.
Travis Head, who was going strong at the other end, was dropped by Nuwan Thushara at deep third-man off Kamboj when he was on 45. The Australian opener had earlier struck three fours off the 23-year-old Kamboj from Haryana, the first off a free hit, which was also a no-ball. He had started with a four off Thushara in the first over.
Piyush Chawla had his measure in the 11th over when Head attempted a slog-sweep off a fullish one and hit it straight to Tilak Varma at backward square leg.
Pandya Found His Mojo Back
Pandya opened his account for the day y sending back the dangerous Nitish Reddy after the batter from Andhra Pradesh had hammered two fours off his bowling in the ninth over. Pandya had his man in his next over when Reddy played a pull off a short one outside off but was beaten by extra pace and skied it to Kamboj grabbed it between point and cover.
He claimed two wickets off the 16th over, sending back Shahbaz Ahmed and Jansen to further hamper SRH's progress.
Chawla got the crucial wickets of Travis Head and Henriech Klassen, cleaning him up with a fastish one that the wicketkeeper batter played onto his stumps. He also trapped Samad lbw to complete a three-fer.
Pat Cummins and Impact Player Sanvir Singh helped them negotiate the last couple of overs, taking them past the 150-run mark, Cummins struck two fours and as many sixes as he remained unbeaten on 35 to give SRH a below-par score.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)