Mumbai, May 6 (IANS): Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya finally found his bowling mojo as he claimed a three-fer along with veteran spinner Piyush Chawla as Mumbai Indians restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to 173/8 in Match 55 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Monday.
Pandya, who had bowled sporadically in the 11 matches that MI had played in this event so far, grabbed 3-31 while Chawla was economical as usual as he claimed 3-33 as Mumbai Indians struck back after SRH had raced to fifty runs in the fifth over after being asked to bat first on a pitch that sported a bit of green tinge.
Chawla claimed the wickets of the dangerous Travis Head, who top scored for SRH with 48 off 30 balls (7x4, 1x6) and Heinrich Klassen (4) to apply brakes on the visitors' progress in the middle overs.
Sunrisers Hyderabad made a brisk start and raced to fifty in five overs with Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma starting in typical fashion. However, Mumbai Indians pulled them back a bit, claiming five wickets within the next fifty runs as SRH slumped to 96/5.
On a wicket that was providing even bounce despite the presence of some grass on the surface, the experienced Jasprit Bumrah, as has he done earlier too, provided the breakthrough, coming into the attack as the first-change bowler.
He struck in the last over of the Power-play when his length delivery held its line and took the outside edge as Abhishek played at it with little footwork, Ishan Kishan made a superb diving attempt to take a nice catch. Abhishek made 11 off 16 balls, a six off Anshul Kamboj being the lone boundary he hit on Monday.
Mayank Agarwal, brought in to bolster the batting, lasted just six balls. Debutant medium pacer Anshul Kamboj, who opened the bowling with Nuwan Thushara but was taken to 13 runs in his first over and 19 in his second, took Agarwal as his first wicket in IPL when he cleaned him up with a delivery that moved in a bit to beat the leg-side heave that the batter attempted.
Travis Head, who was going strong at the other end, was dropped by Nuwan Thushara at deep third-man off Kamboj when he was on 45. The Australian opener had earlier struck three fours off the 23-year-old Kamboj from Haryana, the first off a free hit, which was also a no-ball. He had started with a four off Thushara in the first over. Piyush Chawla had his measure in the 11th over when Head attempted a slog-sweep off a fullish one and hit it straight to Tilak Varma at backward square leg.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad innings came apart after that as Nitish Kumar /reddy (20), Heinrich Klaasen (2), Shahbaz Ahmed (10), Marco Jansen (17) and Abdul Samad (3) fell in quick succession as they slipped to 136/8 from 90/3 at one juncture.
Pandya opened his account for the day y sending back the dangerous Nitish Reddy after the batter from Andhra Pradesh had hammered two fours off his bowling in the ninth over. Pandya had his man in his next over when Reddy played a pull off a short one outside off but was beaten by extra pace and skied it to Kamboj grabbed it between point and cover.
he claimed two wickets off the 16th over, sending back Shahbaz Ahmed and Jansen to further hamper SRH's progress.
Chawla got the crucial wickets of Travis Head and Henriech Klassen, cleaning him up with a fastish one that the wicketkeeper batter played onto his stumps. He also trapped Samad lbw to complete a three-fer.
Pat Cummins and Impact Player Sanvir Singh helped them negotiate the last couple of overs, taking them past the 150-run mark, Cummins struck two fours and as many sixes as he remained unbeaten on 35 to give SRH a below-par score.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 173/8 in 20 overs (Travis Head 48, Pat Cummins 35 not out; Hardik Pandya 3-31, Piyush Chawla 3-33) against Mumbai Indians.