Bengaluru, Oct. 4: Sharjah Cricket Ground once again witnessed a 200+ score as the Mumbai Indians put up a solid 208 for the loss of five against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in match number 17 of the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
MI were playing the first match of the Sunday double-header and after winning the toss, skipper Rohit Sharma opted to bat first at the high-scoring ground.
After opting to bat, Rohit failed to get going with the bat, as he fell for just six runs. Sandeep Sharma removed the Mumbai skipper in the very first over to dent the defending champions start to the game.
The first over of the day itself was drama-filled. There was a big appeal for a catch at the wicket, but the umpire ruled in Rohit's favour giving a not out decision. David Warner trusted his bowler and Jonny Bairstow behind the wicket and immediately went upstairs and the third umpire overturned the onfield umpire's decision, which cut short the opener's innings as he walked back for 6 off 5.
Following Rohit's early departure, Quinton de Kock took over the reigns as he powered MI's innings with a blistering 67 off 39. De Kock took full advantage of the small ground to set Mumbai up for a big score. The opener along with Suryakumar Yadav steadied the innings after the early wicket. Yadav looked in destructive form as he scored a quickfire 27 off 18. His innings was studded with six boundaries. But attempting to hit Siddharth Kaul for a maximum, he played it a bit early to send it to Natarajan at short fine leg.
While MI did build partnerships, regular wickets kept the defending champions in check. De Kock along with Ishan Kishan was looking to take the Mumbai total past the 200 mark, but the deadly Rashid Khan struck to cut short the South African's innings. De Kock scored a blistering 67, studded with four boundaries and four sixes.
Ishan Kishan also looking for another big score was dismissed after Manish Pandey took a sensational catch to send Kishan back. With Kishan back in the pavilion, the big-hitting Kieron Pollard walked in. When the youngster walked back Mumbai had posted 147/4, with the big-hitting Pollard and Hardik Pandya in the middle.
And with Pollard and Pandya out in the middle one is bound to expect fireworks. Pollard scored 25 off 13, in an innings which included three huge sixes, while Pandya added 28 on the board.
Kaul struck again to remove Pandya and take the pressure off SRH. Pandya went for 28 off 19. While one Pandya walked out, the other Pandya walked in and got straight down to business.
Krunal Pandya walked into bat with the two overs left and he began his innings with back-to-back boundaries, taking MI's score past the 200-mark. Krunal's innings only came off boundaries as MI posted a defendable total of 208 for 5. Krunal who scored 20 off four, put runs on the board with two huge maximums and two boundaries.
Sandeep Sharma and Siddharth Kaul led SRH's bowling as they picked up two wickets each. Rashid Khan pocketed one.
As witnessed earlier, bigger totals than this have been chased down in Sharjah, but with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul Chahar, James Pattinson and Trent Boult in MI's ranks, the Sunrisers batsmen will have their task cut out when they walk in to bat.