How Sunrisers Hyderabad knocked Mumbai Indians out of IPL 2021 despite Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav show

Abu Dhabi, October 8: Riding over sensational half-centuries from Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav, Mumbai Indians posted a mammoth 235 for nine against Sunrisers Hyderabad here at Sheikh Zayed International Stadium on Friday (October 8).

In their last league match of IPL 2021, Mumbai Indians needed to post a huge total on the board in the must-win game for them. To pip Kolkata Knight Riders - who are seated at the fourth spot in the points table having almost secured the playoff berth with an emphatic win over Rajasthan Royals in their final league game.

The defending champions needed to beat SRH by a huge margin of 171 runs and for that to happen the Rohit Sharma-led side needed to restrict Sunrisers under 65 runs having posted 235 after electing to bat first.

However, the five-time champions' hopes were dashed as SRH openers Jason Roy and Abhishek Sharma gave their side just the start they needed. The duo attacked Mumbai Indians' strike bowlers and milked 60 runs from the first five overs. The openers began the run chase for the Orange Army in an aggressive fashion and scored at a brisk pace.

By the time Jason Roy was dismissed by left-arm pacer Trent Boult in the sixth over, Hyderabad had reached 64. In the same over Sunrisers reached 65/1 in 5.3 overs and with that Mumbai's hopes of making it to the playoffs in the IPL 14 season were dashed.

KKR thus became the fourth team to secure the playoff berth in IPL 2021 and with that, the playoff ties were also confirmed. Delhi Capitals will face Chennai Super Kings in the qualifier one on October 10; while Royal Challengers Bangalore will lock horns with Kolkata Knight Riders in the Eliminator 1 on October 11. Qualifier 2 will be held on October 13 between the winner of Eliminator and the losing team of Qualifier 1. The Finale will be held on October 15.

Earlier in the day, Ishan and Suryakumar struck whirlwind half-centuries in their must-win game. MI needed a miracle and the script unfolded in their favour in the first innings, when they opted to bat and posted a gigantic total.

Mumbai batters started attacking Hyderabad bowlers from the word go as Kishan found the fence at will and scored his 84 runs off just 32 balls. Yadav's 82-run knock came off 40 balls during which he hit 13 fours and three sixes. Both the batters were under tremendous pressure as they were constantly failing to play impactful knocks.

Kishan, especially, was in ominous touch as he went hammer and tongs and didn't spare a single SRH bowler to bring up his fifty in just 16 balls, the fastest half-century this season.

Yadav, who had not been at his best in the second leg so far, rose to the occasion when his team hoped for a big innings from the right-handed batsman. The Mumbaikar took the onus of steering his side after Kishan's dismissal.

He kept the scoreboard ticking with trademark cricketing shots, the most notable among them was a lofted hit over pacer Siddharth Kaul's head to bring up his fifty in 24 balls. The last five overs yielded 58 runs for MI during which Yadav was at his attacking best.