IPL 2025: Four-star Mumbai Indians put Sunrisers Hyderabad to the brink

Hunting in pairs

Both Deepak Chahar and Trent Boult almost perform a similar role in T20 cricket: take the new ball and get whatever little swing is on offer. Against Sunrisers Hyderabad, both of them executed their bowling plans to the “T”. Though it was Boult who picked the first wicket, it was Chahar who had set the tone in the opening over. He was around the off-stump channel, pegging away at the good-length area. Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head, who love to stamp their authority from ball one, just did not get a ball to hit.

The breakthrough came on the eighth ball of the innings when Boult threw one wide half-tracker which Head, instead of cutting – one of his most productive shots – tried to manufacture something that wasn’t there, and the ball took the toe-end on the way to Naman Dhir at wide third man.

Terrific Trent Boult’s incisive spell of 4/26 👌

🔽 Watch | #TATAIPL | #SRHvMI

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The muddled thinking did not end there. Ishan Kishan soon followed, deeming himself out despite anyone hardly appealing for a leg-side catch. The umpire was not initially going to give it out, but soon changed his mind and raised the finger as Kishan started walking back. No spike was seen on the snickometer later.

Then Abhishek cut one straight to the point fielder as Boult slipped a knuckle-ball after realising the wicket was holding a bit, and Chahar picked up Nitish Kumar Reddy to match Boult’s two wickets in the Powerplay.

These setbacks reduced SRH to 24/4 in the Powerplay. Boult would return in the final over to pick two more with perfect yorkers.

Klaasen soars

It was 2019 when Alzarri Joseph, with his six wickets, helped Mumbai to bundle out SRH for 96 at this very ground. At 34/5 on Wednesday, they were in danger of breaking that dubious record. But it was Klaasen’s 44-ball 71 that saved their blushes on the night.

Wednesday was not the first time SRH has needed Klaasen to deliver this season, and despite the impressive innings, the team management would be wondering whether it came too late to salvage their season.

Heinrich Klaasen’s fighting fifty resurrected #SRH 👏

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The South African came into bat in the fourth over of the innings, and it required a different knock from him than what he is used to playing for franchise or country. Both Chahar and Boult were bowling a testing spell at that stage, and Klaasen had to ride the tough stage out while his partners kept walking back to the pavilion.

It was when young Vignesh Puthur came into the attack that he started to unleash his back-foot assault. As the innings went on, the fluency started to come. A majestic cover-drive against Hardik Pandya came in the phase of the innings when he went into fifth gear, which indicated that he was dictating the tempo of the game.

What helped Klaasen’s cause is that Jasprit Bumrah did not look at his fluent best, which let SRH off the hook after the initial damage. The wicketkeeper-batsman also found a reliable partner in Abhinav Manohar, who was brought in as the impact sub. The duo combined to build a 99-run stand in 63 deliveries. While Klaasen kept attacking the spinner, Manohar ensured no wickets fell at the other end.

The two went after Bumrah with some unusual shots. Klaasen, just before getting out, played a reverse-ramp over short fine-leg, while Manohar’s six over extra-cover did get under the skin of Mumbai’s ace pacer.

Rohit closes it out

A score of 143 was never going to be enough on the night. Rohit Sharma, coming into form in the last game against Chennai Super Kings, continued from where he had left off. It was a sluggish surface which played into his hands. As soon as the ball was pitched back-of-length, he had all the time in the world to slap it through that mid-wicket region. Despite Jaydev Unadkat, playing in place of Mohammed Shami, getting rid of Ryan Rickelton cheaply, the outcome was never really in doubt.

7️⃣0️⃣ Runs
4️⃣6️⃣ Deliveries
8️⃣ Fours
3️⃣ Sixes

🔽 Watch Rohit Sharma’s scintillating knock👌#TATAIPL | #SRHvMI | @ImRo45

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Will Jacks, coming in at No 3, opened his account with a six over mid-wicket, as he proceeded to stitch a 64-run partnership with Rohit, taking the game out of SRH’s reach. Though Zeeshan Ansari had Jacks holing out to long-on, the SRH shoulders had already dropped.

Incoming batsman Suryakumar Yadav ensured that the hosts were put out of their misery with more than four overs left. Their fourth successive win took Mumbai Indians to third on the points table and improved their Net Run Rate to 0.673.