IPL 9: Krunal Pandya, Ambati Rayudu lift Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians’ Krunal Pandya struck three sixes and three fours in his unbeaten 49 from 28 balls against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Hyderabad on Monday. (Photo: Surendra P.)

Some fine bowling and needless belligerent batting resulted in the Mumbai Indians scoring 142/6 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL-9 match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium here on Monday.

Ambati Rayudu (54) and Krunal Pandey (49 not out) saved Mumbai the blushes with a 63-run partnership for the fifth wicket. But for the most part, Mumbai’s batsmen failed to realise they could not simply hack their way to a big total on a difficult Hyderabad pitch.

Both teams came into the match desperate for some momentum, and Mumbai would have been licking their lips in anticipation when Sunrisers’ skipper David Warner invited the visitors to bat.

The visiting team had suffered a blow even before the match started with Kieron Pollard getting ruled out due to food poisoning.

Martin Guptill and Parthiv Patel walked out with purpose, but before the game even truly began, Mumbai were pegged back by a peach of a delivery from Bhuvneshwar Kumar. With the score on two in the first over of the innings, Guptill pressed forward to defend what seemed like a regulation delivery just outside off but at the last minute, the ball veered away from its course resulting in a fine edge to wicketkeeper Naman Ojha, much to the delight of a crowd of nearly 20,000 spectators.

Parthiv Patel then decided to take the attack to the hosts. Joined by Ambati Rayudu, the diminutive southpaw came out swinging, and that’s how he departed too.

Parthiv slapped two fours, and he began to stand a little straighter. And then he tried to the same to a Barinder Sran delivery. Only, he badly misjudged it. The ball was too full and too straight and crashed into the stumps, sending the left-hander back to the hut for just 10 runs.

Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma then walked out to a huge cheer but not long after, he walked back to a louder cheer. The destructive right-hander, too eager to keep the scoreboard ticking over, called for a non-existent single and was run-out for 5 as a result.

Englishman Jos Buttler who came in at no. 5 had a blink-and-you-miss cameo, departing for a run-a-ball 11 after he was gloved the ball to the ‘keeper trying to pull a wayward Sran delivery.

Despite all this mayhem, Rayudu kept his head at the other end. Recognising early on that this was not a pitch meant for swinging, Rayudu gently waltzed his way through most of his 54-run knock. However, he too succumbed to the temptation to go big, and smashed a Sran delivery straight to Moises Henriques at point.

Rayudu’s departure came at an inconvenient time for Mumbai — just around when they would have liked to have a few big overs. As it turned out, they had squandered away too much impetus too early and had to settle for a total just past the 140-run mark.

Scoreboard Mumbai Indians M. Guptill c Ojha b Kumar 2, P. Patel b Sran 10, A. Rayudu c Henriques b Sran 54, Rohit Sharma run out 5, J. Buttler c Ojha b Sran 11, Krunal Pandya (not out) 49, Hardik Pandya b Mustafizur 2, Harbhajan Singh (not out) 1. Extras: (lb2, w6) 8. Total: (for 6 wkts, in 20 overs) 142. FoW: 1-2, 2-23, 3-43, 4-60, 5-123, 6-135. Bowling: Kumar 4-0-17-1, Sran 4-0-28-3 (4w), Henriques 4-0-23-0 (1w), Mustafizur 4-0-32-1 (1w), Bipul 4-0-40-0.