Rohit dismantles Sundar It was a trick played too early by Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Aiden Markram. Trying to get his counterpart Rohit Sharma out early, he introduced the spin of Washington Sundar, who has been in a particular thorn in Rohit's side in the IPL by dismissing him thrice in six innings, in just the third over, and watched the move backfire immediately. The pace of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Marco Jansen had made for an intriguing early matchup with Rohit and Ishan Kishan. Both holding their line well and swinging the ball into the batsmen making them struggle to get fluency in their strokeplay. But once Sndar took the ball, Rohit would release himself by hitting three typically aesthetic boundaries to get going. The first two were lifted on the leg side, one sweep over fine leg, and one wristy pull over deep midwicket. Under pressure, Sundar left the third ball flat and short, Rohit duly obliged cutting it between point and cover. Rohit would eventually depart at 28 from 18 after getting outfoxed by the left-arm pace of T Natarajan and flicking a leading edge to the fielder at mid-off. But before doing so, he would crunch two more boundaries in a breezy, useful early innings, giving Mumbai the solid start they needed in the powerplay. Hat-trick of wins, and we are in 𝓟𝓐𝓡𝓐𝓓𝓘𝓢𝓔 😉#OneFamily #SRHvMI #MumbaiMeriJaan #MumbaiIndians #IPL2023 #TATAIPL pic.twitter.com/0mBm5Wt33R— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) April 18, 2023 - Namit Kumar Jansen swings it both ways Midway through the first innings, at 80-1 with set batsmen on a challenging wicket, Mumbai would have been sufficiently happy. Marco Jansen, whose hefty variations full of off-cutters and inward-moving seam, had unsettled the openers in the powerplay, would put an end to that. He took the wicket of Ishan Kishan after he seemed to have settled into the match. Suryakumar Yadav would then come into the middle and immediately sweep one for six, before Jansen trapped him with a cutter that he lofted into the hands of the fielder at mid-off. He may have given Hyderabad the breakthrough they needed, but it was against him that Mumbai got a foothold again. Well-settled on the crease, Cameron Green picked up on the relentless off-cutters coming his way, slapping two short ones for four. A similar ball, in the slot, would then be smashed for six by Tilak Verma who then preyed on Jansen missing his length while attempting to bowl a yorker, and knocking another out of the park. In just two overs, Jansen had swung the momentum both ways. - Namit Kumar Meek powerplay effort Midway through the second over of the Hyderabad innings, Harry Brook crunched a perfectly-timed cover drive for four. The balance, connection with the bat, half-stride to meet the ball, were all flawless. On the very next ball, in polar opposite fashion, Brook looked to awkwardly pull a shorter one which caught the top edge and departed. It was a meek stroke, bereft of any control, and perfectly summed up the rest of Hyderabad’s powerplay in general. Aiden and Mayank in charge of this chase 💪 pic.twitter.com/qLSql6T7hb— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) April 18, 2023 Brook made way for Rahul Tripathi, who looked passive throughout his short innings which contained only one four, before he was caught behind playing an angled defensive shot to give Jason Behrendorff his second wicket. Later, Mayank Agarwal showed some intent to try to salvage something while the field restrictions were still in place, but while chasing a target as high as 193, a powerplay score of 42-2 on a wicket that is only going to slow down as the spinners come into play, is potentially recipe for disaster. - Namit Kumar Klaasen goes after Chawla Just as Tilak Verma had done through his quickfire 17-ball 37 in the first innings, Heinrich Klaasen promised to turn this run chase upside down after he targeted Piyush Chawla. As Chawla, sent in by Rohit Sharma to take a crucial wicket, bowled in leg breaks and showed it early to bait Klaasen, he would expertly manipulate the field. He hit a boundary and two sixes in three different corners of the ground before smashing another four despite Chawla going on the defensive. 20 from 4 balls, a total of 36 from 16, before getting caught at long-on to get Hyderabad back into the game. But where T Natarajan and Marco Jansen failed Hyderabad, by missing their line and length and leaking runs through predictable bowling, Riley Meredith and Cameron Green would come good for Mumbai, bowling in the precisely correct areas to stall Hyderabad’s momentum. There were just eight runs conceded from the 10 balls after Klaasen departed as well as the wicket of Mayank Aggarwal, which left too much work to be done by Hyderabad’s tail. - Namit Kumar
