Indians Have Their First Away Win
Mumbai Indians registered their first away win of Pepsi IPL 2014, in Hyderabad. The Rohit Sharma-led team clocked in a big seven-wicket victory with eight balls to spare. Chasing a competitive 158-run target, MI’s charge was led by opener Lendl Simmons (68 off 50 balls) and Ambati Rayudu (68 off 46 balls), who put their team in the driver’s seat after they had lost an early wicket.
Earlier, SRH won the toss and chose to take first strike. Aaron Finch and Shikhar Dhawan (11) came at the top of the order for the home team. They added 31 runs for the first wicket, before Lasith Malinga dished out his trademark yorker and bowled the SRH skipper out in the fifth over. Lokesh Rahul then walked in at one-down. He took the backseat as Finch took charge of the innings and led his side past the 50-run mark. In all, the pair added 39 runs, before Rahul (10) was run-out in the 10th over.
His dismissal brought the hard-hitting David Warner to the crease with the scorecard reading 70 for two in 9.5 overs. And while Finch, who brought up his second half-century of the season, had got his eye in, the MI bowlers didn’t let the duo run up the scoreboard. The pair added 63 runs in 54 balls, before Finch (68) holed out to Kieron Pollard in the deep off the bowling of Malinga. Naman Ojha (7*) then paired up with Warner (55*) – who brought up his half-century as well – and added 24 runs in the last seven balls to take SRH to a competitive 157 for three.
In response, MI lost CM Gautam (1) early; Bhuvneshwar Kumar got the better of him in the second over. But then, Lendl Simmons and Ambati Rayudu came together and tilted the game in their team’s favour. The duo denied the SRH bowlers any opportunities and capitalised on any loose offerings from them. During their 130-run stand, both players brought up their half-centuries. They struck a total of 12 fours and six maximums during their 87-ball liaison. However, before MI got across the line, Simmons (68) was cleaned up by Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 16th over.
And then, in the next over, Moises Henriques caught Rayudu (68) off his own bowling. But that was the last bit of success SRH would taste as Rohit Sharma (14*), who was ably supported by Kieron Pollard (6) at the other end, took MI home with seven wickets in hand and eight balls to spare.
