Rohit scored his second straight half-century to give MI their fourth straight win
Karthik Krishnaswamy23-Apr-20250:42
Knight: Klaasen batting far too low for SRH
Last week, Mumbai Indians (MI) had straightjacketed the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) batters on an atypically slow surface at the Wankhede Stadium. On Wednesday, they did the same in the reverse fixture at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, cantering to a seven-wicket win after keeping SRH to 143 for 8.Getting to that total was an achievement for SRH after they had slumped to 35 for 5, with Heinrich Klaasen hauling them to something like respectability with a superb 71 off 44 balls. Moderately respectable as the total may have been, it was far from enough to put pressure on MI, who raced to victory with 26 balls remaining, with Rohit Sharma continuing his return to form with a second successive half-century.Related
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Ishan Kishan walks but Ultra Edge shows no edge
The defining performances of the match came from Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar, who picked up two new-ball wickets each as SRH slumped to the lowest powerplay score of the season, 24 for 4. They were in danger of collapsing to a double-digit total when they lost their fifth wicket in the ninth over, but Klaasen and Impact Player Abhinav Manohar ensured that didn’t happen, putting on 99 for the sixth wicket in 63 balls.The damage had already been done, though, as 144 proved to be no challenge at all for an MI team that seems to be building ominous momentum after the customary slow start to their season. After winning just one of their first five games of IPL 2025, they have now won four out of four.SRH, meanwhile, are second from bottom with just two wins in eight games. They took a net run-rate hit too; theirs is now -1.361, only marginally better than bottom-placed Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) -1.392.
Boult and Chahar set the game up
The early exchanges set the tone, with both Chahar and Boult swinging the new ball while also benefitting from the ball stopping on the surface. Conditions still weren’t as tricky as SRH’s top-order slump made them look, though; both Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma were caught while going hard at the ball, slicing shots they were early on, while Nitish Kumar Reddy chipped a drive to mid-on.The defining moment of SRH’s top-order collapse, however, was the wicket of Ishan Kishan, who was out to a leg-side strangle for the second time this season. He began walking even though no MI player made a genuine appeal, and Ultra Edge proceeded to rub more salt in SRH’s wounds, showing no spike as ball passed bat.1:28
Aaron and Knight stumped by Kishan’s ‘bizarre’ dismissal
Klaasen keeps SRH afloat
When Hardik Pandya made it 35 for 5 with an offcutter-bouncer that got big on Aniket Verma, SRH had no option but to make early use of their Impact Player and bring on an extra batter, Manohar.It was Klaasen who did all the heavy lifting, though, particularly early on in the sixth-wicket partnership. Left-arm wristspinner Vignesh Puthur helped him spark the innings to life with a series of long-hops in the tenth over, and Klaasen helped himself to a six and two fours. Fifteen came off that over, and 16 off the next, bowled by Hardik.Klaasen went on to play a number of sensational shots – none better than a reverse-scooped six off Jasprit Bumrah in the 19th over – but thanks to SRH’s circumstances, his innings was necessarily one of restraint, as a control percentage of 86 suggested. The risks he took were measured ones, off marginal errors in line and length from MI’s bowlers. That he still finished with a 160-plus strike rate was a testament to his quality, with Manohar’s 43 off 37 balls and the scores of SRH’s other batters putting his innings in context.Mitchell Santner, varying his pace and seam orientation cleverly while keeping the stumps in play as much as possible, made the best of SRH’s self-imposed restraint, conceding just 19 runs – and just one four – in his four overs.Klaasen and Manohar gave SRH the push they needed at the death, as 35 came from overs 17 to 19. But the finish was muted. Bumrah dismissed Klaasen with a full-toss off the last ball of the 19th, and Boult came back to end the innings with a double-wicket 20th.One of them was another unusual dismissal, a rare hit-wicket. He sneaked a yorker past Manohar and hit the stumps, but the batter, sitting deep in his crease, had already disturbed the stumps while trying to bring his bat down to keep the ball out.1:43
Is Rohit Sharma well and truly back?
Rohit bosses the chase
SRH had replaced Mohammed Shami – who had endured a difficult season, picking up just five wickets in seven games at 52.20 while conceding 10.87 runs per over – with Jaydev Unadkat, and the left-arm quick marked his return with an early wicket, getting Ryan Rickelton caught-and-bowled in the second over of MI’s chase with another ball that stopped on the surface.But whether because of dew or other reasons, the ball in general seemed to come on to the bat much better during the second innings. Even Pat Cummins’ offcutter into the pitch, such a potent weapon on slow surfaces, sat up to be hit here, with Rohit and Will Jacks pulling him for a six each in a 17-run third over.That set the tone for the rest of the powerplay, with MI scoring 56 for 1 in this phase, the highlight an effortless six over long-off from Rohit off Unadkat, with arms at full extension.Rohit came into this game having improved his scores with each innings, his first seven visits to the crease bringing him 0, 8, 13, 17, 18, 26 and 76*. He seemed on course to keep that sequence going, but fell against the run of play on 70, chipping an Eshan Malinga yorker to midwicket in the 15th over.MI only needed 14 off 32 at that point, though, and Suryakumar Yadav was already batting on 26, picking his spots and targeting them clinically. He finished the game with a flurry of boundaries, to end it unbeaten on 40 off just 19 balls. The final act of the match summed up the contest: a flat Suryakumar pull off Zeeshan Ansari could have been caught at deep square leg, only for Reddy to overrun the ball and let it run away to the boundary.