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SA batters help Sunrisers clinch record victory over Mumbai Indians

cricket27 March 2024 18:14| © MWP
By:Neil Manthorp
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The highest scoring game in the history of the IPL, and one of the most remarkable, saw the Sunrisers Hyderabad score a record-breaking 277-3 before clinching an often tense 31-run victory against the Mumbai Indians in their IPL match at the Rajiv Ghandi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

 

A riveting, seemingly impossible run-chase saw Mumbai reach 50-0 in three overs and maintain the tempo throughout before finally succumbing to 246-5 in the first ever 500-run game in the tournament’s 17-year history.

Heinrich Klaasen hammered a staggering 80 not out from just 34 balls in a record-breaking, scarcely believable SRH innings after being asked to bat first but, unlike the previous record total 263 in which Chris Gayle scored 175, this time it was very much a team effort.

Memorable ball striking from four of the top five batsmen built the record, including Aiden Markram (42* from 28 balls) who shared an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 116 with Klaasen who struck seven sixes and four fours in his numbing innings.

Australian opener Travis Head (62 from 24 balls) and Abhishek Sharma (63 from 23 balls) both had strike rates in excess of 250 to set the roller-coaster on its way and the South African duo ensured it never slowed down.

It was a nightmare start for Mumbai’s 17-year-old Kwena Maphaka who was belted for a pair of legside fours and sixes by Head in his second over which cost 22 runs.

Gerald Coetzee’s first over was even more damaging as he started with a waist-high no ball which Sharma hit for six and conceded 23 runs.

Sharma spanked three more sixes in legspinner Piyush Chawla’s first over which cost 21 runs as the Power Play yielded an eye-watering 81 runs and 102-1 after just seven, bruising overs.

BOWLERS PUNISHED

Coetzee ‘enjoyed’ the consolation of a wicket when Head uppercut a short, wide delivery to deep backward point.

Nonetheless, an opening burst of 2-0-34-1 no doubt did not feature in the pre-match team talk.

Australian Head’s 62 came from 24 balls with nine fours and three sixes.

Maphaka’s third over cost another 20 runs and 18 came from his fourth leaving him with figures of 4-0-66-0 while Chawla’s two overs cost 34 but included the wicket of Sharma who miscued a pull shot to deep midwicket.

Coetzee, too, could not escape the punishment with 1-57 from his four overs while left-arm spinner Shams Mulani (2-0-33-0) was left with the daunting task of bowling the final over which cost 21.

Mumbai’s run-chase was every bit as exhilarating as Sunrisers’ innings with openers Rohit Sharma (26 from 12 balls), Ishan Kishan (34 from 13) and Naman Dhir (30 from 14) all throwing caution to the wind during the run feast.

Tilak Varma top scored with 64 from 34 balls (2x4, 6x6) and Tim David smashed 42*from 22 balls as boundaries flowed throughout the innings culminating in Romario Shepherd’s 15* from six balls once the game was effectively over.

Both teams suffered narrow losses in their opening matches of the campaign with the Sunrisers going down by four runs to the Kolkata Knight Riders and five-time champions Mumbai, losing by six runs to the Gujarat Titans.

Five-time champions Mumbai have once again made their customary ‘slow start’ to the tournament. They have a habit of bouncing back.

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: Travis Head, Mayank Agarwal, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wkt), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Jaydev Unadkat

MUMBAI INDIANS: Ishan Kishan (wkt), Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (captain), Tim David, Gerald Coetzee, Shams Mulani, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Kwena Maphaka

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