 "Mumbai Indians players celebrate after skipper Hardik Pandya gets Sunrisers Hyderabad's Aniket Verma caught-behind during the IPL match in Hyderabad. AP")
Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya hailed his team’s “complete combination” following their seven-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Pandya’s men outclassed their opponents with bat as well as with ball to to complete a season double in the 2025 Indian Premier League against the ‘Orange Army’.
Trent Boult (4/26) and Deepak Chahar (2/12) were the pick of the bowlers as the restricted SRH to 13/4 inside the powerplay while left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner conceded just 19 runs from four overs. SRH posted a below-par 143/8 after they were invited to bat despite Heinrich Klaasen’s heroic 44-ball 71 and his 99-run sixth-wicket partnership with Abhinav Manohar (43).
Rohit Sharma later blasted 70 off 46 deliveries, bringing up his second fifty on the trot, while Suryakumar Yadav smashed an unbeaten 40 off 19 balls as MI completed a second successful chase against SRH in a space of a week.
“Good to have wins behind our back. Glad the boys are taking the momentum in the right way. Rohit, Deepak, Boult, SKY, everyone, always felt that once everyone started clicking, it’s going to be a complete combination, overall a wonderful win. Captaincy sometimes is about instincts, I like to see the game and react and not always rely on pre-made plans,” Pandya said after leading his side to their fourth consecutive victory, which took them to the third spot on the points table.
‘Needed a guy to really steady the ship’: SRH captain Cummins
His SRH counterpart Cummins praised Klaasen and Manohar for their excellent sixth-wicket partnership, which gave the home team’s bowlers something to work with, but felt the team needed someone to “steady the ship” early on.
“Abhinav and Klassy got us to a good total, but we couldn’t get through this innings. Needed a guy to really steady the ship,” Cummins said during the post-match presentation ceremony.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsSRH failed to cross 150 on the very same surface where they had posted 286/6 – the second-highest score in the IPL – in their season opener against Rajasthan Royals, who posted 242/6 in reply.
“Difference between our first game where we got 280-odd and then on the same surface we got rolled over. In T20, the margins are also very little, you need to perform on the given day,” Cummins said.
“We have a few away games now, it will be about assessing each wicket as quickly as possible. Some days it will be all out attack, some days it will be about weighing our options,” the Australian Test and ODI captain added on the road ahead for the Sunrisers, who have now lost six games in eight outings.