Heading into the game against Team Hyderabad, Team Mumbai needed a near miracle to progress to the playoffs. First, they needed to win the toss and bat. If they had chased, the chances were done and dusted right there due to their inferior Net Run Rate. Rohit Sharma did win the toss, but the real battle began from thereon, as Team Mumbai needed to win by a whopping margin of 171 runs or more, the highest ever in the history of the Indian T20 league if they wanted to overhaul KKR and become the fourth team to make the playoffs.
And they set the tone upfront with the bat as Ishan Kishan blazed away to a superlative half-century. He smashed a stunning 84 off 32 balls. After his dismissal, Suryakumar Yadav took over and he didn’t let the momentum drop. He smoked 82 off 40 deliveries as Team Mumbai racked up 235 in their 20 overs.
What hurt them was the rest of the batting line-up (apart from Kishan and Yadav) couldn’t really get going and complement them. In reply, Team Hyderabad’s top-order came out firing as well. Jason Roy and Abhishek Sharma stitched a quickfire 64-run opening stand and it came off just 5.2 overs. Team Mumbai needed to bowl Team Hyderabad out for 65 or less, but the inability to do so meant they crashed out.
The Hyderabad openers were dismissed in successive overs before Manish Pandey came along and notched up a fluent 69 not out. Team Hyderabad kept losing wickets at the other end but they did manage to get 193 in their 20 overs.
There were a few talking points from this fascinating game and here are a few of them:
Ishan Kishan sets the tone and blasts away at the top
Team Mumbai simply needed a blistering start and needed to run away with the game at the top of the order if they were to have any minute chance. Ishan Kishan provided them with just that kind of start. The left-hander who smashed a 25-ball half-century in the last game continued from where he left off. He blazed away to his fifty in a mere 16 balls as Team Mumbai raced to 63/0 in four overs.
Rohit Sharma was dismissed in the sixth over but that didn’t affect Kishan’s flow. He kept going and consistently found the fence. Just when a hundred was there for the taking, he was dismissed. It was in the 10th over that Umran Malik had Kishan edging one to the keeper. Kishan finished IPL 2021 with a brutal and magnificent 84 which came off just 32 balls. His knock included 11 fours and four sixes as he helped Team Mumbai set the platform at the top. When he was dismissed, Team Mumbai’s score was 124 in just 9.1 overs.
Suryakumar Yadav finds form, lifts Mumbai to 235/9
Suryakumar Yadav hasn’t had the best of seasons this year. He has struggled to get the big scores and at times, he has been guilty of throwing his wicket away. However, the 31-year-old smashed his way back into form when Team Mumbai needed it the most.
Suryakumar walked in to bat at No. 5 when Kishan was dismissed and he continued in the same vein. He kept finding the fence regularly and punished Team Hyderabad’s bowling severely. Even as other batters kept coming and losing their wicket, Suryakumar held firm and didn’t let his strike rate dip. He kept going after the bowlers and brought up his half-century in 24 balls. He didn’t have much assistance at the other end and the Mumbaikar scored 82 which lifted Team Mumbai’s score to 235/9.
Team Hyderabad openers smash Team Mumbai’s hopes in the powerplay
After racking up 235, Team Mumbai needed to bowl out of their skin and dismiss Team Hyderabad for a mere 65 or a less to qualify. But the openers – Jason Roy and Abhishek Sharma – crushed all those dreams, even if they were minute, to officially knock Team Mumbai out of the race for the playoffs.
Both Roy and Sharma attacked from the get-go and consistently got boundaries. The duo took Team Hyderabad to 60 in just five overs as the runs flowed from both ends. Roy blasted his way to 34 off 18 balls before he was dismissed in the sixth over. Meanwhile, Sharma got 33 off 16 before he followed his opening partner back in the dressing room in the seventh over.
Manish Pandey did come out and score an unbeaten 69 and Priyam Garg also chipped in with a decent contribution of 29 off 21 balls but apart from them, none of the other Team Hyderabad middle-order batters could get going. But somehow, Team Hyderabad huffed and puffed and made 193/8 in their 20 overs.
They finished at the last spot on the points table. Meanwhile, the two-time defending and five-time Indian T20 league champions missed out by a whisker (points) as the net run rate came to haunt them.
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