Hyderabad spoils Mumbai party
A packed Wankhede was looking forward to a comprehensive Mumbai win at the innings break but second successive batting failure saw them lose their way in the chase as they fell short of the target by 10 runs against Hyderabad. In a match billed as ‘top versus bottom’, Hyderabad emerged as the unlikely winners in a big upset of IPL-4. Hyderabad who had nothing to lose as they are already out of top-four race were more than happy after this win. Mumbai, however are not looking the invincible side they were just a week ago.
Hyderabad chose to bat on a bowler friendly pitch and got to a middling total of 135 runs. In reply, Mumbai lost too many wickets early on and couldn’t keep up with the asking rate. Leggie Amit Mishra was the hero for Hyderabad, albeit with the bat as he smacked four boundaries in the last over to set up the win. The loss meant Mumbai remain in the second spot behind Chennai on the points chart.
The chinks in the Mumbai batting once again came to the fore as they crumbled under the pressure of a chase after the disaster against Punjab in the last match. Blizzard was the first one to go in the reply bowled by part-timer Duminy who surprisingly opened the bowling for Hyderabad. Mumbai batsmen made the mistake of playing expansive shots on a pitch that was not conducive to such stroke-play. Sachin Tendulkar was the lone exception, he applied himself and tried to steady the ship with a dogged 37. When he was dismissed Mumbai needed 52 runs in just four overs, the game was all but over. Keiron Pollard and Harbhajan Singh tried to get near the target but in the end it proved to be a steep ask.
The Hyderabad bowling used the conditions to their advantage and with the pitch offering massive turn, they employed a host of spinning options to stifle the run chase. Mishra and Duminy conceded just 21 runs in six overs and claimed two wickets. The real star however was pacer Anand Rajan, who was on the expensive side but removed three key batsmen including Sachin and Rohit Sharma. For a change, Hyderabad didn’t drop any catches on the field.
Earlier, the Hyderabad batsmen had to toil hard to get to a par total on a pitch that played some tricks. However, the surface had nothing to do with the first dismissal; Micheal Lumb was cleaned up by Lasith Malinga. Sangakkara and Sunny Sohal tried to push along the scoring but both were dismissed before the half-way stage of the first innings.After that, the scoring rate dipped and it looked they would barely cross 100. Amit Mishra had a verbal duel with Munaf Patel in the last over but it yielded 23 runs that proved to be the difference in the end between the two sides.
The Mumbai bowlers did control the proceedings for majority of the Hyderabad innings but lost the plot when an angry Munaf tried too many things in the last over. Harbhajan was once again economical whereas, Dhawal Kulkarniwas was impressive with a three wicket haul.
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