The Indian Premier League 2018 dished out another thrilling blockbuster as Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Mumbai Indians by one wicket at home. Oh! It was a special game that had all the elements of a perfect T20 boiler and it was worth every penny fans had spent to watch two big teams fight it out.
Although it was a relatively low-scoring affair, MI made a match out of it. Set a paltry target of 148 runs, SRH cruising at one stage, huffed and puffed to claim a one-wicket victory of the final ball of the innings. It was one of those nights where there was so much drama and tension all around.
A glorious slog over mid-wicket and @SunRisers beat #MI by 1 wicket#SRHvMI #VIVOIPL pic.twitter.com/NFHcQdr29Z
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 12, 2018
Deepak Hooda (32*) hit that defining six in the final over that helped SRH crawl to a deserved victory. Earlier, Even Lewis (29) was the top scorer for Mumbai as Kieron Pollard (28) and Suryakumar Yadav (28) made sure they get to the 140+ mark.
SRH bowlers were all over MI and never allowed them to get going with pacers Sandeep Sharma (2/25) and Siddharth Kaul (2/29) causing issues for MI batsmen.
Here we look at the impact player, powerful performer and key moments of the game.
Impact Player of the day: Mayank Markande
SRH had got off to a stellar start with Wriddhiman Saha and Shikhar Dhawan adding 62 runs in no time. In came Mayank Markande, the spinner who impressed largely against Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 11 opener. Markande trapped Saha LBW in the seventh over and from there on he was unstoppable.
He had the in-form Shikhar Dhawan (45) getting caught off an attempted sweep before ripping apart the SRH middle-order. Manish Pandey and Shakib Al Hasan found it difficult to score and Markande got both of them in quick succession. In the final ball of his quota, the wicket of Shakib put the SRH in trouble all of a sudden, as the spinner finished with 4-0-23-4.
He is already the Purple Cap holder this season with seven wickets to his name.
Powerful Performer of the day: Rashid Khan
The Afghan sensation was awarded the Wisden Twenty20 cricketer of the year (2017) and he showed why he is such a fine piece of talent. Rashid was exceptional with the ball on Thursday. Who would have thought a bowler will bowl 18 dot balls in a four-over spell? Well, Rashid did just that.
His figures of 4-0-13-1 was a sheer delight. He looked fresh and different as the Afghan kept it simple and played on his strengths. Rashid was excellent in his spell and tied down the dangerous Kieron Pollard. He bowled with a lot of variation that included googlies, leg-sp, n and the straighter deliveries.
The key wicket of Ben Cutting just added to his tally, but by then he had done the damage for MI in ensuring they do not score the desired runs in the middle overs.
Rashid’s quality was acknowledged also by spin ace Harbhajan Singh.
How good is this guy @rashidkhan_19 Top quality,Skills,confidence, A Champion bowler I would say.. what do u say @ShaneWarne ?
@SunRisers @IPL— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) April 12, 2018
Key moment of the day
Jasprit Bumrah turned around the game in the 18th over especially at a time when SRH were looking like to seal a victory with 15 needed off 15 with five wickets in hand. Bumrah picked the crucial wicket of Yusuf Pathan after banging it in short of a length with the former Kolkata Knight Riders player only managing to fend off straight to the fielder.
Next ball he had young Rashid Khan dismissed and the over turned out to be crucial for MI with just three runs from it and daily two scalps. That in turn helped Mustafizur Rahman gain confidence and the Bangladeshi pacer picked another two wickets in the 19th over and gave away just a single, leaving SRH in deep trouble.
The low scoring encounter had burst into life with these two overs which made this our key moment of the day.
