SRH vs MI Highlights, Today IPL Match: Rohit, Surya steer Mumbai to seven-wicket victory in Hyderabad

Rohit collects a four off Cummins in the second ball of the 11th over, smacking a wide length delivery from the SRH captain through the cover region. Collects a single next ball to complete his half-century in 35 balls.

The 100 comes up for MI in the following over with Ansari conceding 15 after a superb second over, conceding three boundaries including two on the trot to the in-form Suryakumar Yadav, who’s as good a player of spin as Heinrich Klaasen if not better. MI 100/2 after 12; need 44 to win off 48

Excellent second over from the leg-spinner, in which he concedes just three singles while breaking the second-wicket partnership that’s ultimately worth 64.

This after Unadkat returns to the attack and gets hit for seven in his third over, including a boundary to Rohit in the fourth delivery. MI are 79/2 at the halfway stage, needing 65 more to win off 60 balls.

Rohit decides to charge down the wicket against Unadkat at the start of the left-arm pacer’s second over, pulling a slower short ball towards deep midwicket for a four.

Four balls later, he decides to target the off side with an inside-out lofted drive over extra cover for his second maximum. MI 43/1 after 4

The ‘Hitman’ decides to tee off in Cummins’ second over, going for a trademark pull in the second ball of the over that sends the ball into the stands beyond the midwicket fence. What’s even more impressive is the fact that he picks an off-cutter from the SRH captain, and generates enough power for it to comfortably clear the fence.

Beats the keeper with a tickle in the next ball to collect a four. Will Jacks, the new batter at the crease, ends the over with a mighty hit over cow corner as Cummins concedes 17 in his second. MI 30/1 after 3

The ‘Hitman’ is greeted with a huge roar at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium after making his way to the centre.

Klaasen and Manohar continue to attack the MI bowlers, with their sixth-wicket partnership now worth 88 in just 57 deliveries. Manohar and Klaasen collect a boundary each, the latter off a juicy full toss, as Bumrah concedes 11 in his third over. Manohar smacks Pandya for a six and a four in the following over, with the MI captain going for 13 in his third. SRH 123/5 in 18

Klaasen brings up the milestone with a single in Boult’s third over, taking 34 deliveries to reach the milestone. This is after he welcomes the Kiwi left-arm pacer back into the attack with a four at the start of the over, completing the fifty-stand with Abhinav Manohar in the process. Nine off Boult’s third.

Mitchell Santner bowls out his final over next up, conceding his first and only boundary of the evening in the fourth delivery as Klaasen slaps a short delivery down the ground. The Kiwi left-arm spinner signs off without a wicket, but having only conceded 19 runs in four overs! Hyderabad, meanwhile, are one short of the century mark with four overs left. SRH 99/5

Ishan Kishan is caught-behind in Deepak Chahar’s second over after getting strangled down the leg side. What’s bizarre about the dismissal, however, is the fact that almost nobody from the MI camp appealed for a caught-behind dismissal; rather Kishan started to walk off.

Even the umpire had partially raised his finger with no one appealing and made the full signal for a dismissal once the MI players noticed and raised their voices.

The cherry on top of the cake is the fact that UltraEdge shows no contact between bat and ball in subsequent replays. SRH 12/2 after 3

Travis Head clears his front leg looking to smash the length ball from the Kiwi left-arm seamer out of the ground, only to send the ball high in the air after hitting off the toe-end of his bat. Naman Dhir settles under the ball to complete an easy catch at backward point.

Abhishek opens his account with a six in the final delivery, flicking a full delivery over cow corner, after new batter Ishan Kishan collects a single. SRH 9/1 after 2

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen(wk), Aniket Verma, Pat Cummins(c), Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Zeeshan Ansari, Eshan Malinga; Impact Subs: Abhinav Manohar, Sachin Baby, Rahul Chahar, Wiaan Mulder, Mohammed Shami

Mumbai Indians: Ryan Rickelton(wk), Will Jacks, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Vignesh Puthur; Impact Subs: Rohit Sharma, Corbin Bosch, Raj Bawa, Satyanarayana Raju, Robin Minz

“Very hot here in Hyderabad. There is a bias in the dimensions – 63m to the right and 70m to the left. Down the ground is 77m. Third time on this particular pitch, this is where all those high scoring games have come.

“The pitch is very dry and hard. It is a 200+ wicket, but will depend on who can take the early advantage. Both teams have some skilled operators of swing and seam. Won’t be as high as that first game against Rajasthan, but still a great batting surface,” say Morrison and Hayden.

Rohit had smashed 26 in 14 deliveries during MI’s home game against SRH before chipping a full toss straight to Travis Head at cover.

Now that he has regained his form after a match-winning 76 against CSK, can Rohit win Round 2 of his battle against the Australia captain, someone he has had plenty of riveting battles with in recent years?

SRH openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma played a major role in their team’s run to the final last year. And after a series of early dismissals, the pair had finally clicked in the team’s dominant eight-wicket victory over Punjab Kings with a 171-run opening stand.

Against MI last week, the pair added 59 runs for the first wicket, albeit in nearly eight overs. Can they collect their second century opening stand later this evening?

Here’s a summary of MI’s results this season:

— Lost to CSK by 4 wickets

— Lost to GT by 36 runs

— Defeated KKR by 8 wickets

— Lost to LSG by 12 runs

— Lost to RCB by 12 runs

— Defeated DC by 12 runs

— Defeated SRH by 4 wickets

— Defeated CSK by 9 wickets

Here’s a summary of SRH’s results this season:

— Defeated RR by 44 runs

— Lost to LSG by 5 wickets

— Lost to DC by 7 wickets

— Lost to KKR by 80 runs

— Lost to GT by 7 wickets

— Defeated PBKS by 8 wickets

— Lost to MI by 4 wickets

Neither SRH nor Rajasthan Royals or Chennai Super Kings, the other teams in the bottom half of the table, have been eliminated from the playoffs race so far this season.

That said, SRH do need to get back to winning ways at the earliest and try and win at least five of their next seven matches, preferably with big margins keeping their Net Run Rate in mind. Usually 16 points is considered the safe zone for teams to qualify for the playoffs. But there have been occasions with teams have gone through with 14, with NRR becoming a factor at this stage.

SRH had even qualified for the 2019 playoffs with just 12 points – the lowest in IPL history. That, however, is an exception and not a norm.

Matches: 24

MI won: 14

SRH won: 10

Last five meetings:

MI won: 4

SRH won: 1

Mumbai Indians had restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to a below par 162/5 at the Wankhede Stadium last Thursday, thanks to Will Jacks’ 2/14 from three overs and Jasprit Bumrah’s economical spell of 1/21 from four.

Jacks would later lead the way in the chase with a knock of 36 off 26 balls while Rohit Sharma showed first glimpses of regaining his form with a knock of 26 off 15 as MI chased the target down with four wickets and nearly two overs to spare. They should have chased it down within 17 overs, but for some reason, struggled to score in Eshan Malinga’s final over in which the Sri Lankan conceded just a single while collecting two wickets.