Mumbai trump Hyd

Hyderabad: A brilliantly-paced 130-run stand between Ambati Rayudu and Lendl Simmons backed by an abysmal show by the ‘best’ bowling attack in Indian Premier League saw the Mumbai Indians crush hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets in their first home game at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Monday.

Sunrisers got off to a dream start as Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, their highest wicket takes this season, took CM Gautam of his second ball.

Dale Steyn and Kumar produced a brilliant opening spell giving away just 16 runs in the first four overs. But Rayudu (68) and Simmons (68) had different plans., which they executed to dramatic levels to the disappointment of the partisan crowd They kept the strength of the Hyderabad attack, Karn Sharma and Amit Mishra, wicket-less to steadily crawl to 75 for one at the end of ten overs. Man of the match Rayudu ( 68 from 46 balls) cut loose after this and smashed Irfan Pathan for a six and a four off two balls in the 11thover.

Kumar finally got a breakthrough in the 15th over when he knocked out Simmon’s off-stump. Moses Henriques took Rayudu’s catch off his own bowling in the 17th over, but it was too little, too late.

The loss means that the Sunrisers have now lost their one-match advantage over Kolkata Knight Riders and will stay at the fifth position because of the poor net run rate. However, the win brings Mumbai Indians up to sixth position.

Earlier, Frontline batsmen came good for Sunrisers Hyderabad to guide them to 157. Although, Shikhar Dhawan failed to give the flying start the fans expected, Aaron Finch and David Warner struck a vital partnership to take the team to a competitive 157 for the loss of three wickets. Despite having a wobbly start (Dhawan falling after scoring 11); Warner launched a late assault on Malinga hitting two balls over long on in the penultimate over to accelerate the run rate. He backed it up with two more boundaries to bring up his half century and the team’s 150 in the last over.

Finch played the role of a painfully slow anchor scoring 68 of 62 balls. However, despite going for a few in his last over, Malinga was the pick of the bowlers for Mumbai scalping two wickets for 35.

Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 157 for three wickets (Aaron Finch 68, David Warner 55 not out, Lasith Malinga 2/35) lost Mumbai Indians 160/3 (Ambati Rayudu 68, Lendl Simmons 68, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar 2/21).