Mumbai, May 21 (IANS): Sunrisers Hyderabad openers Vivrant Sharma (69) and Mayank Agarwal (83) struck superb half-centuries but Mumbai Indians managed to pull things back a few pegs and restricted the visitors to 200/5 in 20 overs in Match No. 69 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Sunday afternoon.
Vivrant Sharma and Agarwal provided SRH with a great start as they raised 140 runs for the opening partnership, scoring their half-centuries in 36 and 32 balls respectively as the visitors scored at a brisk pace. However, things went downhill for SRH in the death overs as they lost their way, managing to score only 43/4 in the last five overs.
Mumbai Indians medium pacer Akash Madhwal bowled an eventful 19th over in which he bowled a no-ball but ended it in a flourish by castling Henrich Klassen (13) and Harry Brook (0) off successive deliveries. He will be on a hat-trick if Mumbai Indians manage to reach the Playoffs.
Madhwal bagged a four-fer, claiming his four wickets for 37 runs as SRH lost their way from a healthy 174/2 to 186/5 before skipper Aiden Markram (13 off 7) slammed a four and a six off Chris Jordan to propel them to 200.
In a must-win match in which skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field first, the Mumbai Indians bowlers failed to get an early breakthrough as Mayank Agarwal and Vivrant Sharma made merry, staying together at the wicket for 13 overs and raising 140 runs for the opening partnership.
The SRH openers made a sedate start before picking up the rate of scoring towards the end of the Power-play. Vivrant Sharma struck a boundary off the third ball bowled by Jason Behrendorff in his first over and then exploded into action in the fourth over, scoring back-to-back boundaries off Chris Jordan -- the first deftly guided between third-man and backward point while the second came when he slapped a length ball through cover, charging down a bit.
Piyush Chawla, the highest wicket-taker for MI this season, too could not provide the breakthrough as Vivrant struck two fours off him in the sixth over as SRH ended the Power-play at 53 for no loss.
At the other end, Mayank Agarwal hammered successive boundaries off Behrendorff in the third over, slapping a slower one over the bowler's head for the first four and then racing down a couple of steps to cover drive it past Jordan at mid-off. He struck two fours off Akash Madhwal in the fifth over and slapped edged Kumar Karthikeya past the short third man for four in the seventh over. When Behrendorff returned for his second spell, Agarwal hammered him for a six over cover and then guided an attempted yorker past the short third man off the next delivery in the 13th over.
Vivrant Sharma completed his half-century off 36 balls, hitting seven fours and one six as SRH scored 100 off 66 balls. Agarwal reached his fifty off 32 deliveries, hitting an identical seven fours and one six.
Vivrant Sharma was the first to go as he made room to pull Madhwal but found substitute Ramandeep Singh at deep mid-wicket. His 69 runs came off 47 balls and included nine fours and two sixes.
Agarwal, who struck Madhwal for a six in the 14th over and then hammered a four and six on successive balls from Karthikeya, and Heinrich Klaasen raised 34 runs for the second wicket before the Karnataka batter edged behind an attempted pull to Ishan Kishan off Madhwal. His 83 came off 46 balls and included eight fours and four maximums.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 200/5 in 20 overs (Vivrant Sharma 69, Mayank Agarwal 83; Akash Madhwal 4-37) against Mumbai Indians.