Mumbai Indians’ Jasprit Bumrah celebrates after taking wicket of Abhishek Sharma during the IPL match between MI and Sunrises Hyderabad at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on May 6, 2024.
| Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI

Mumbai Indians have no plans to rest ace India pacer Jasprit Bumrah ahead of the T20 World Cup even though they are out of contention for the IPL playoffs, said batting coach Kieron Pollard.

MI defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets here on Monday after Suryakumar Yadav (102 not out) struck his second IPL century to help his team chase down a target of 174 with 16 balls to spare.

The win helped MI end their four-match losing streak and record only their fourth win in 12 matches.

“I certainly haven’t had any discussions about that,” Pollard told media after the game when asked if there are any plans to rest Bumrah from MI’s remaining two matches keeping in mind the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Also Read: IPL-17 | Technology comes to the rescue of practice pitches at Dharamshala

“I don’t think that’s my role and function at this point in time. But let’s see what happens. We are all here to play an entire IPL. Sometimes when we think too far ahead of different things, thinking about World Cups, all these things could affect performances even from before the team was selected.

“For us and in our camp, the most important thing is finishing off the IPL and let’s see what happens after that. When he leaves the IPL and he goes into the Indian team, I think that’s where that concession will take place.”

MI’s last IPL game is against Lucknow Super Giants at home on May 17. The T20 World Cup, to be co-hosted by USA and the West Indies, will begin on June 1.

Pollard said as a batting coach the most difficult aspect of coaching an all-round batter like Suryakumar is to curb his attacking instinct.

“He’s one, who, by nature, instinctively, is very aggressive. He wants to take the bowler’s on more often than not. At times it’s just a matter of understanding the situation and respecting the new ball when it’s moving around,” Pollard said.

“If the conditions are not suitable for a certain amount of shot making, having that discipline in order to be there for a period of time and they’ll get into your work.

“I think that would be the hardest thing — to try to curb the attacking instinct. But it’s not something you want to curb too much and get them in a defensive frame of mind because of the direction the sport is heading now in terms of the amount of runs being scored.”

SRH’s assistant coach Helmot doffs his hat to Suryakumar

SRH’s assistant coach Simon Helmot said Suryakumar played an exceptional innings to take the game away from his side and the world No 1 T20I batter will have a lot of influence in the T20 World Cup.

“On some days you just have to take your hat off and say well played and well played to him. He’s an exceptional cricketer and he’s always going to demand a spot in the Indian team and I’m sure he’ll have an influence in the World Cup,” he said.

“It’s very difficult (to bowl at Suryakumar) and you guys have seen him close up for many years as I have. He’s a very difficult batsman to match up with when he’s in that sort of frame of mind, that sort of mood.” Helmot said the conditions assisted swing bowling with the new ball in both the innings which forced the batters to adjust their game.

“Travis (Head) has been one of our best players this season at the top of the order. But even he found it difficult at times to time the ball out in the middle on this particular track and that will happen at different times during the season,” he said.

Helmot said not losing their fourth spot in the IPL points table was the biggest positive for SRH in a resounding defeat.

“The positives are that we’re still fourth in the ladder. It’s a really tight competition; one of the tightest competitions we’ve had in IPL for years that I can remember,” he said.

“For us, we’ve got our very first fly tomorrow (Tuesday) and then play the next day against Lucknow (on Wednesday). For us, it’s (about) very quickly get through over this game,” he added.

Captain Hardik Pandya’s pace and veteran leg-spinner Piyush Chawla’s craft put the brakes on Sunrisers Hyderabad’s batting line-up before Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma’s scintillating display with the willow gave Mumbai Indians a rare win this season.

Riding on Suryakumar’s 51-ball unbeaten 102, studded with 12 fours and six sixes, and his unbroken third-wicket association of 143 off just 79 balls with Tilak (37 not out, 32b, 6×4), the host overhauled the target of 174 with 16 balls to spare.

When Tilak took guard in the fifth over, MI was in a spot of bother.

With the Sunrisers pace battery having reduced the home team to 31 for three, Mumbai Indians was in danger of letting its bowlers’ good work come apart because of another poor show by the top-order.

Ishan Kishan, straightened up by Marco Jansen, was caught in slips, Rohit Sharma miscued a pull off Cummins, and Naman Dhir slashed Bhuvneshwar to point to make early exits.

But in the seventh over, Suryakumar changed the complexion by taking on Jansen. In what turned out to be a 22-run over, Suryakumar swung the left-arm pacer over the fine-leg fence twice with his trademark behind-the-wicket innovations.

Then on, Tilak played a perfect second fiddle as his partner continued to torment the opposition attack.

The flamboyant batter settled a score with Cummins by essaying three consecutive pull shots in the 17th over that not only brought MI to the cusp of a win but also put him on the verge of a hundred. He achieved both the milestones in the next over by lofting S. Natarajan’s first ball over long-off for a six.

Had it not been for Chawla and Hardik’s partnership with the ball, MI would have been chasing a stiffer target.

The duo picked three crucial wickets — Travis Head, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Heinrich Klaasen — for just six runs in 11 balls to derail Sunrisers from 90 for two to 96 for five.

The two shared another three scalps in the 16th and 17th overs to put MI on top before Cummins’ cameo helped SRH cross the 170-run mark.

Scoreboard

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head c Tilak Varma b Chawla 48 Abhishek Sharma c Ishan Kishan b Bumrah 11 Mayank Agarwal b Anshul Kamboj 5 Nitish Reddy c Anshul Kamboj b Hardik Pandya 20 Heinrich Klaasen b Chawla 2 Marco Jansen b Hardik Pandya 17 Shahbaz Ahmed c Suryakumar Yadav b Hardik Pandya 10 Abdul Samad lbw b Chawla 3 Pat Cummins not out 35 Sanvir Singh not out 8 Extras: (LB-2, W-9, NB-3) 14

Total: (For 8 wickets in 20 Overs) 173

Fall of wickets: 1-56, 2-68, 3-90, 4-92, 5-96, 6-120, 7-124, 8-136.

Mumbai Indians bowling: Nuwan Thushara 4-0-42-0, Anshul Kamboj 4-0-42-1, Jasprit Bumrah 4-0-23-1, Hardik Pandya 4-0-31-3, Piyush Chawla 4-0-33-3.

Mumbai Indians: Ishan Kishan c Mayank b Jansen 9 (7b, 2×4), Rohit Sharma c Klaasen b Cummins 4 (5b, 1×4), Naman Dhir c Jansen b Bhuvneshwar 0 (9b), Suryakumar Yadav (not out) 102 (51b, 12×4, 6×6), Tilak Varma (not out) 37 (32b, 6×4)

Extras: (b-4, lb-10, w-8): 22

Total: (for three wkts. in 17.2 overs): 174.

Fall of wickets: 1-26 (Kishan, 1.4), 2-31 (Rohit, 3.2), 3-31 (Dhir, 4.1).

Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling: Bhuvneshwar 4-1-22-1, Jansen 3-0-45-1, Cummins 4-1-35-1, Natarajan 3.2-0-31-0, Nitish 2-0-16-0, Shahbaz 1-0-11-0.

Toss: Mumbai Indians. PoM: Suryakumar

MI won by seven wickets with 16 balls to spare

Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to produce a dominant show against a frail Mumbai Indians outfit and move up in the Indian Premier League points table when the two teams clash in Mumbai on May 6.
| Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam

The Indian Premier League is entering the last fortnight of the league stage. Naturally, it’s that time of the year when terms like “business end, must-win affair, playing for pride and playing spoilsport” will be used as frequently as Travis Head’s sixes and Jasprit Bumrah’s toe-crushers.

Despite all these terms befitting the contest between Sunrisers Hyderabad – among the most aggressive outfits who can seldom afford a slip-up for making it to the Playoffs – and Mumbai Indians – on course to be awarded the wooden spoon, it will be the battle between the in form opening batter and the pick of IPL bowlers – yet again – that will be tempting for the fans to flock the Wankhede Stadium on Monday night.

Head and Abhishek Sharma – the left-handed duo – have turned the aggressive template into an ultra-aggressive mode this time around. Among the multiple occasions when the duo have set the tone for a gargantuan SRH total was the contest between these two sides in Hyderabad early on in the tournament.

So strangely was Bumrah used in that game that he bowled a solitary delivery to Head. With Mumbai Indians having only pride and reputation to play for, the fans will be hoping for another duel between the duo instead of Bumrah’s workload being managed with an eye on India’s T20 World Cup challenge.

Equally interesting could be the battle between Rohit Sharma, who was used as an Impact Player against Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday night due to a stiff back, and T. Natarajan, the left-arm pacer who has found his mojo.

Teams (from)

Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David, Shreyas Gopal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Anshul Kamboj, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Mohammad Nabi, Shams Mulani, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Tilak Varma, Harvik Desai (wk), Nehal Wadhera, Luke Wood.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, Anmolpreet Singh, Glenn Phillips (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Upendra Yadav (wk), Jhathavedh Subramanyan, Sanvir Singh, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh, Mayank Agarwal.

Match starts 7:30pm IST.

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s players celebrate during the Indian Premier League cricket tournament between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad.
| Photo Credit: AP

Travis Head played a gem of an innings, Abhishek Sharma was stunning and Heinrich Klaasen flamboyant as the trio fashioned Sunrisers Hyderabad’s impressive 31-run win against Mumbai Indians in a high-scoring IPL league match at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Wednesday night.

Rollicking start

When Mumbai began the daunting chase of 278, it was obvious that the target was too high.

This despite Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan ensuring a rollicking start before both fell, going for big shots.

Later, local boy Tilak Varma showcased his power-hitting with a brilliant knock but that was not good enough as Sunrisers captain Pat Cummins struck the big blows — removing Rohit and Tilak — at crucial moments to short-circuit Mumbai Indians’ hopes.

Tim David too came up with some big hits towards the end but Mumbai needed something extraordinary which didn’t eventually happen.

Earlier, Mumbai’s gamble to put the host in backfired badly as the bowling looked very ordinary, with the stand-out exception, not surprisingly, being Jasprit Bumrah.

Sunrisers posted the highest ever total of 277 for three in IPL history, eclipsing the previous best of 263 for five by Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Pune Warriors in 2013.

Great move

The home team’s move to prefer Head to Marco Jansen proved to be a great one as the Australian opener, dropped on five at mid-off by Tim David off Hardik Pandya’s first ball in the second over of the innings, played some extravagant strokes, especially treating 18-year-old South African left-arm pacer Kwena Maphaka with disdain, pulling him nonchalantly for two huge sixes and straight driving to the fence with aplomb.

Southpaw Abhishek was equal to the occasion against both pace and spin — pulling pacer Gerald Coetzee for a six and later hitting leg-spinner Piyush Chawla for three sixes in his first over.

Century stand

Abhishek was busy hitting boundaries at will and later the South African duo of the classy Aiden Markram and the more belligerent Klaasen joined hands for an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 116 of 55 balls to push the visitors completely on the defensive.

MI 246/5 in 20 overs

MI managed 246 for five in their allotted 20 overs, riding on a 34-ball 64 by Tilak Varma and Tim David’s 22-ball 42 not out. For SRH, Pat Cummins (2/35) and Jaydev Unadkat (2/47) snapped two wickets each.

Teams

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Mayank Agarwal, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Jaydev Unadkat.

Mumbai Indians: Ishan Kishan(w), Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Tim David, Gerald Coetzee, Shams Mulani, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Kwena Maphaka.

Brief Scores

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 277 for 3 in 20 overs (Heinrich Klassen 80 , Travis Head 62, Abhishek Sharma 63; Piyush Chawla 1/34).

Mumbai Indians: 246 for 5 in 20 overs (Tilak Varma 64, Tim David 42 not out; Pat Cummins 2/35).