IPL 2023: Rohit's grit and Green's ton keep MI's playoff chances alive against SRH; Twitter hopeful
IPL 2023: Mumbai Indians produced a flaming batting performance to outshine SunRisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in Mumbai on Sunday. The success keeps it alive in the playoff race, as it hopes for Royal Challengers Bangalore to lose, while Twitter was hopeful.
FollowIt was a radian batting performance by five-time record former champion Mumbai Indians (MI) in the penultimate league tie of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) against former champion SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday. The eight-wicket triumph keeps MI's chances for the playoffs alive, thanks to skipper Rohit Sharma and Cameron Green's incredible batting display. While it would be hoping for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to lose later this evening against defending champion Gujarat Titans (GT) to assure its playoff berth, Twitter remained hopeful.
After winning the coin toss, MI opted to chase, as SRH began on a dominant note, with openers Vivrant Sharma (69) and Mayank Agarwal (83) putting on 140 by the 14th before the former fell to pacer Akash Madhwal after scoring his maiden IPL half-century, while he became the Indian to play the best IPL knock on debut.
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As Agarwal and Heinrich Klaasen (18) joined forces to add 34 for the second wicket, the former had brought up his 13th IPL 50 before perishing to the same pacer in the 17th. Thereon, Hyderabad lost some batters quickly in a bid to accelerate the scoring rate, as it finished on a problematic total of 200/5.
For Mumbai, Madhwal grabbed four wickets, whereas medium-pacer Green was particularly economical. Before its chase, the visitors brought pacer Kartik Tyagi as the Impact Player. While the hosts began on a shaky note, losing Ishan Kishan (14) in the third over of the PowerPlay (PP) to senior seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, fellow opener Rohit (56) and Green (100*) changed the entire complexion of the chase.
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While Rohit was dropped in the fifth by Sanvir Singh off pacer Nitish Reddy, the two went on to put on a monumental 128-run stand for the second wicket to keep MI firmly in the chase. As the former came up with his 42nd IPL half-century and became the second Indian after Virat Kohli to score 11,000 Twenty20 (T20) runs and also the second after him to score 5,000 runs for a single IPL side, the partnership was broken by spinner Mayank Dagar in the 14th, who dismissed the skipper.
However, Rohit's dismissal hardly mattered, as Mumbai had nearly done the job. Green was joined by the in-form Suryakumar Yadav (25) and the two got the job done with 12 balls to spare, as the side bested by eight wickets, with the former hitting his maiden T20 ton. For SRH, besides the wicket-takers, skipper-cum-spinner Aiden Markram was economical.
