IPL: Mumbai Indians' title defence is over despite beating Sunrisers Hyderabad in run-fest

Defending champions Mumbai Indians are out of the IPL despite racking up 235-9 to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 42 runs; Ishan Kishan hit a blistering 84 from 32 balls and Suryakumar Yadav added 82 from 40 but it was not enough to overhaul Kolkata Knight Riders for the last play-off place

By Sam Drury

Friday 8 October 2021 20:24, UK

Mumbai Indians' Indian Premier League title defence is over despite a 42-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad as 428 runs were scored in an entertaining clash in Abu Dhabi.

Mumbai needed to win by a highly improbable 171 runs or more to overhaul Kolkata Knight Riders and take the last play-off place on net run-rate but despite a stunning 84 from 32 balls from Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav's superb 82 from 40 balls taking them up to 235-9, bowling Sunrisers out for 64 proved beyond them on a very good batting surface.

Jason Roy and Abhishek Sharma quickly put a stop to any thoughts of a miracle for Mumbai and put on 64 for the first wicket before stand-in skipper Manish Pandey hit an unbeaten 69 from 41 balls as the Sunrisers finished on 193-8, still some way short of their mammoth target.

The win means five-times winners Mumbai end the campaign in fifth while Sunrisers prop up the table in eighth after losing 11 of their 14 matches and with so many big name players set to become available at the next auction, both sides could look very different by the time they next appear.

Mumbai succeeded in doing what they needed to do at the toss, namely winning it and batting first, and captain Rohit Sharma admitted that their chances of making the knockout stages were slim in the extreme, it very quickly became apparent that they would, at the very least, go down swinging.

Kishan hit the second ball of the innings, the first he faced, away over the legside for six to begin what was essentially a nine-over onslaught on the Sunrisers attack.

The left-hander added four fours in a row off Siddarth Kaul in the next over, thumped a couple more in the third and having pulled Jason Holder for six, flat-batted back-to-back boundaries to bring up a remarkable 16-ball half-century by the end of the fourth over.

Rashid Khan removed Rohit (18) but Kishan was relentless, bringing up Mumbai's 100 with an enormous 104m six in the leg-spinner's next over and was fast approaching a hundred of his own.

A spellbinding innings came to an end when Kishan tried to smear the ball through point off Umran Malik and edged behind, walking off with his side 124-3 and only 9.1 overs bowled.

Rather than the wicket providing respite for the Sunrisers, it became more akin to a like-for-like substitution with Suryakumar replacing Kishan and whipping his first ball away for four.

There was a couple of more sedate - relatively to what had come before - overs and when Abhishek (2-4) removed Kieron Pollard (13) and Jimmy Neesham (0) in successive balls to end his only over of the innings, it seemed like Sunrisers were clawing their way back into contention.

Instead, Suryakumar scooped Kaul for four and bludgeoned the next ball over deep midwicket for six to make it clear that Mumbai were far from finished.

Wickets fell around him but Suryakumar kept going, boundary after boundary, until he finally succumbed with two balls remaining in the innings, giving a fifth catch to Mohammad Nabi as he mistimed a slower ball from Holder.

Even after such a display of hitting, the chances of Mumbai dismissing SRH for 64 or less were very slim and within three overs they were almost non-existent as Roy got after Jasprit Bumrah (2-39) and Priyush Chawla (1-38).

The England right-hander was looking in good touch but fell to Trent Boult (1-30) the ball after hitting his sixth boundary of the innings and Mumbai's fate was sealed the next ball after a single from Abhishek took Sunrisers to 65-1, confirming KKR's place in the Eliminator.

Abhishek (33 from 16) fell in the next over but while Nabi (3) and Abdul Samad (2) soon followed, Pandey was doing enough to just about keep Sunrisers in contention.

The right-hander shared a stand of 56 with Priyam Garg (29 from 21) but the required rate continued to climb and with wickets starting to fall regular intervals in the last five overs, despite Pandey's best efforts, the contest petered out as Mumbai signed off for the season with a win.

Watch Delhi Capitals take on Chennai Super Kings in IPL Qualifier 1 from 2.50am, Sunday on Sky Sports Cricket.