Cameron Green’s scintillating century kept Mumbai Indians’ hopes alive as the home side thumped Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in Match 69 of TATA IPL 2023 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Rohit Sharma (56 off 37) and Cameron Green (100* off 47) set the stage on fire as they went on a stunning counter-attack to chase down 201 with 12 balls to spare, after their bowlers had made a brilliant comeback in the slog overs to restrict the away side to 200/4 following sparkling fifties from SRH openers Vivrant Sharma (69 off 47) and Mayank Agarwal (83 off 46).
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Chasing 201, Ishan Kishan got off the blocks early with a six and a four off Nitish Reddy. He was looking to take the aggressive approach but couldn’t last long as he miscued his pull off Bhuvneshwar to mid on where Harry Brook took a good diving catch.
Rohit then got a lifeline as he miscued his heave to mid-wicket where Sanvir Singh put down a tricky catch. Green then rubbed salt on SRH’s wounds as he smashed the next ball over deep mid-wicket for a powerful six. Green continued the momentum in the next over, hammering two fours and a six off Tyagi to make it 18 off the over and take MI to 60/1 at the end of the Powerplay.
Green then took the attack to Mayank Dagar, smashing a couple of muscular sixes to accumulate 13 off the next over. The boundary flow continued as Rohit Sharma hit a four off Umran Malik and then cracked a six off a beamer from Vivrant. Green brought up his fifty off just 20 balls in the same over, tonking one over long on for another six as MI took 19 from the Vivrant Over who had to walk off the field after the over with what looked like cramps.
Rohit then upped his ante with three fours in a row off Umran in the next over as MI reached 114/1 at the halfway stage. The pair brought up the 100-run stand off just 51 balls. Rohit Sharma brought up his fifty, off 31 balls as he lofted one over extra cover off Tyagi.
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Rohit then received another reprieve as Sanvir Singh again dropped him, this time at extra cover. Green though continued to play with power and authority as he smashed a couple of sixes off Nitish Kumar to amass 16 runs off the 13th over.
Mayank Dagar finally broke the 128-run stand as he had Rohit 56(37) caught at backward point where Nitish Kumar pulled off a tremendous flying catch. Suryakumar got off the mark in style as he lofted the first ball over extra cover for a four. Green was unstoppable as he muscled a four and a six off Umran Malik and Suryakumar joined the party smashing a couple of fours to make it 20 off the over and bring the required rate below 6. Suryakumar and Green cracked a couple of fours off Tyagi who had to end his over abruptly after bowling a second waist-high full toss and had to be taken off the attack. With 8 needed off 18, Suryakumar took a single. Green, on 94, cracked one through extra cover for a four to get to 98 and then took a single to covers. With 2 needed off 15, Suryakumar nudged one to the leg side for a quick single. With Green on 99 and one needed to win, Bhuvneshwar beat Green off a slower one, the keeper fumbled but the batters didn’t run for a bye. Green finally got to his maiden IPL hundred as he swiped one wide of mid on for a four to complete his century and win it for MI.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl. They made one change to the starting XI as Kumar Kartikeya replaced Hrithik Shokeen. They named Ramandeep Singh, Vishnu Vinod, Tilak Varma, Tristan Stubbs and Sandeep Warrier as their substitutes.
Sunrisers Hyderabad made four changes to the starting eleven as Mayank Agarwal, Vivrant Singh, Sanvir Singh and Umran Malik replaced Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Abdul Samad and Kartik Tyagi. Mayank Markande, Rahul Tripathi, Abdul Samad, Kartik Tyagi and Akeal Hosein made it to their substitutes list.
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The Mumbai Indians started off well as they bowled with discipline and found a hint of swing to keep the SRH openers quiet. The home team conceded just one boundary in the first two overs. Mayank Agarwal then looked to up the ante as he cracked a couple of fours off Jason Behrendorff to make it 12 off the over. Abhishek Sharma then combined power with placement to hit a couple of fours off Chris Jordan to take 10 runs off the fourth over.
Mayank Agarwal then got a reprieve as a massive miscommunication saw him stranded in the middle while trying to go for a risky single. The fielder missed the direct hit at the non-striker’s end as Agarwal completed the run. Hat the fielder hit, Agarwal was well short.
The duo kept hitting boundaries as Agarwal hit a couple off Akash Madhwal and then Vivrant took the attack to Piyush Chawla to take SRH to 53/0 at the end of the Powerplay. The pair kept the scoreboard ticking as Vivrant brought up his maiden IPL fifty off 36 balls as SRH reached 93/0 at the halfway stage. Agarwal then brought up the 100-run opening, SRH’s first of the season as he thumped one down the ground for a four off Kartikeya.
The pair stepped up a gear in the 13th over as Agarwal cracked a six and a four off Behrendorff to bring up his fifty, off 32 balls and Vivrant added another maximum as he thumped a 91m six over the leg side to make it 19 off the over. Akash Madhwal got hit for a six off his second ball in the 14th over but the MI pacer bounced back to break the 140-run stand three balls later as he had Vivrant (69 off 47) caught at deep mid-wicket. It was the highest score by a player in his debut innings in IPL.
The fall of wicket didn’t deter SRH as Agarwal continued to attack, smashing a four and a six off Kartikeya and then a powerful six straight down the ground off Chawla to make it 24 from two overs.
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Rohit then brought back Madhwal again and he got the crucial breakthrough, having Agarwal (83 off 46) caught behind off a short ball. The MI pacer bowled an excellent 17th over, giving away just six runs. Jordan continued the good work in the next over, sending back Glenn Phillips (1 off 4) and conceding just six runs. Madhwal bowled another excellent over as he cleaned up the in-form Heinrich Klaasen (18 off 13) via a full delivery. He then dished out a lethal yorker to clean up Brook off the next ball as he finished a brilliant spell of 4/37, giving away just six in his last over.
Aiden Markram and Sanvir Singh finally provided some relief as they hit a six and a four respectively to accumulate 14 off the last over from Jordan and take SRH to 200/5 at the end of 20 overs. MI bowled brilliantly in the slog overs as they conceded just 32 in the last four overs.
