A sublime counterattacking unbeaten century Suryakumar Yadav (SKY) and his unbeaten 143 runs partnership off 79-balls, at the back of three wickets haul each by Hardik Pandya and Piyush Chawla, enabled Mumbai Indians successfully chase down a target of 174 set by Sunrisers Hyderabad, with seven wickets in hand and 16 balls to spare in the ongoing TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the iconic Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Monday night. 

The morale boosting win which was their fourth in eleven outings came at the back of their four consecutive losses in a row including the recent one against two times former champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) after failing to chase down an under par score of 169 in the face of four wicket haul by IPL’s most expensive player Mitchell Starc last week at the same venue.

SKY who came to bat at a critical phase inside power play after the hosts couldn’t score a single run off the bat for 20 balls at a stretch and had lost three of their top order batters, including Ishan Kishan (9), Rohit Sharma (4) and Naman Dhir (0) with 31 runs on the board to rival pacers Marco Jansen, Pat Cummins and Bhuvneshwar Kumar respectively, the stylish world no.1 T20 batter made an instant impact.

His first of the twelve boundaries, a straight drive after being beaten thrice by Bhuvneshwar, who along with his fellow pacers had extracted appreciable swing initially, set the tone for the match. A massive aerial six over the deep third boundary from the back of Suryakumar bat while attempting a flick off Cummings bowling in the final over of the powerplay further boosted the confidence of his partner Tilak Varma at the other end, who too took on the rival skipper with two classic boundaries on either side of the wicket to ensure the host consolidation phase.

SKY later took on the tall lanky Jansen in the very next over (22-runs) with two boundaries and as many sixes and raced to a 30-ball fifty with a couple of the same bowler, soon after the halfway stage. He followed it up with two well-timed sweeps off left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed soon after and even took on rival skipper Cummings after the later resorted to short pitch bowling outside his off stump. His two boundaries in the mid-wicket region followed by a maximum over deep midwicket region in the 17th over, same close on his second century.

A single by Tilak Varma who played a supporting role in his unbeaten 37 off-left arm pacer T Natarajan (0/31) in the next over gave his partner the strike.  SKY didn’t needed second opportunity and reached the triple figure mark with his sixth six over deep extra cover it off-left arm pacer T Natarajan (0/31) and ensured the five times former champions Mumbai Indians avenge their  31 runs loss while chasing a massive target of 278 in an away game earlier last month.

Earlier put in to bat Sunrisers opener Travis Head lead the scoring chart with 48 runs and was the third batter to be dismissed, after attempting a sweep shot off veteran leg spinner Chawla  soon after the halfway stage with 90 runs on the board. Chawla later combined well with his skipper Hardik to rip through the middle as the visitors lost five wickets for further addition of 48 runs in 7. 3 overs. Pat Cummins unbeaten 35 off 17 balls including two boundaries and two sixes provided a crucial late surge to propel SRH to a competitive total off 173 for 8 in the end off even as Jasprit Bumrah bowled economically in the death overs.

Player of the Match SKY who scored his second IPL century and sixth T20 century post the match said "I have done this after a long time. I fielded for 20 overs and batted for 18 overs, only tired with nothing else to worry about.  I feel it was the need of the hour for me. I went out to bat, and needed someone to bat till the end. I just enjoyed my time. It's from the Mumbai School of arts, and has played a lot of cricket at Wankhede. Love it here"

Pat Cummins, Skipper of SRH whose team takes on top-four aspirants LSG for a place in the play-offs next on 8 May felt his team was few runs short at Wankhede, said “You always feel like you’re in, the wicket had a little bit in it so we were definitely in the game.  It’s T20 cricket, and it doesn't always work out. Surya played well. We like playing at home, we’ll wait and see what’s ahead of us. Hopefully, a few more fireworks and some win as well".

Hardik Pandya, Skipper of MI on the other hand was happy with the positive brand of cricket dished out by his players and said “We want to play positive cricket and focus on the process. The way the batters batted was excellent. In my bowling, I like to bowl in the right areas, I bowl according to the situation. Bowled in the right areas today and it worked. I was like Chawla had to bowl from the shorter side. You have to be accurate, the margin of error has become smaller these days for the bowlers who though I felt gave 10-15 runs more in the end. It's unbelievable, the best part of SKY is that he puts the bowlers under pressure. Lucky to have him in my team".

Mumbai Indians next take on Kolkata Knight Riders in their next away match in four days time  (Photos by Ashok Dhamija)

Brief Scores:

Sunrisers Hyderabad - 173/8 in 20 overs (Travis Head 48 (30b: 7x4s, 1x6), Pat Cummins 35* (17b: 2x4s, 2x6s), Nitish Reddy 20 (15b: 2x4s); Hardik Pandya 3/31, Piyush Chawla 3/33, Jasprit Bumrah 1/23, Anshul Kamboj 1/42) lost to Mumbai Indians - 174/3 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 102* (51b: 12x4s, 6x6s), Tilak Varma 37* (32b: 6x4s); Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/22, Pat Cummins 1/35, Marco Jansen 1/45) by 7 wickets and 16 balls to spare. Player of the Match:  Suryakumar Yadav (Mumbai Indians).

Photo Above: Player of the Match Suryakumar Yadav registered his second IPL century - and sixth in T20s included twelve boundaries and six sixes off 52 balls, as Mumbai Indians overhauled Sunrisers Hyderabad score of 173 with 16 balls to spare