Rahul Tripathi struck a brilliant half-century and pace sensation Umran Malik claimed 3/23 as Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Mumbai Indians by three runs as the latter failed to capitalise on a superb opening partnership between skipper Rohit Sharma (48) and Ishan Kishan (43) in Match 65 of IPL 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Tuesday. Asked to bat first on a pitch that started slow but eased out a bit later in the evening, Sunrisers Hyderabad rode on a 44-ball 76 by Tripathi and his two 70-plus partnerships with Priyuam Garg (42) and Nicholas Pooran (38) to post a challenging 193/6 in 20 overs. In reply, Mumbai Indians failed to capitalise on the 95-run opening stand by Sharma and Kishan and some lusty hitting by Tim David (46 off 18), who struck four massive sixes in one over by T Natarajan, to finish at 190/7, falling short by a narrow margin. The win took SRH to 12 points from 13 matches, the same as Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders.
They are in the eighth position, but still have a faint chance of making it to the top four if they win their remaining match and other results go in their favour as five teams separated by two points fight for the fourth playoff spot. Mumbai remained at the bottom with six points from 13 matches. Sunrisers Hyderabad reeled in the rampaging Mumbai Indians in the middle-overs, sending back Daniel Sams (18), Tilak Varma (8), and Tristan Stubbs (run out for 2) during this period as Mumbai Indians from 95/1 in the 11th over, slumped to 144/5 in the 17th. Tim David struck four sixes off a wild over by Natarajan, which was stretched by two wides and conceded 26 runs in all.
But David was run out off the last ball of that over, going for a sharp single to retain the strike as Natarajan touches the ball onto the stumps at the non-strikers' end. With 19 needed off the last two overs, Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled a wicket-maiden over, getting the wicket of Sanjay Yadav (0) as Mumbai's hopes ended in another defeat. Umran Malik was the best Sunrisers bowler as he claimed 3/23 off three overs, bowling with pace and hard length to trouble the batters. Washington Sundar 1/36 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/26 were the other wicket-takers even as T Natarajan was carted around and ended with 0/60 off his four overs.
Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan provided Mumbai a superb start as they raised 95 runs for the opening stand when the skipper was out, caught by substitute Suchith off Washington Sunder, charging out at the spinner, who edges the length, the resultant skier is pocked by the fielder 10 yards inside the midwicket boundary. Rohit struck two fours and four sixes during his 36-ball stay. Kishan, on the other hand, made 43 off 34 deliveries, hitting five fours and one six before he was out to a superb effort by Priyam Garg running in from mid-on to pouch a full-length delivery by Umran Malik that the Jharkhand batsman had chipped into the air. Mumbai lost the momentum after that as Malik struck two quick blows, sending back Daniel Sams and Tilak Varma in quick succession as Mumbai from 95/0, slumped to 127/4. Tim David did raise their hopes of a memorable win by blasting four sixes off Natarajan but in the end, his unnecessary run-out ruined what was developing into a successful chase for Mumbai. Earlier, the two partnerships that Tripathi figured in were the center-piece of Sunrisers' innings as that provided their batting the momentum it needed after Abhishek Sharma was out early, trying to loft a fullish ball from Daniel Sams, that was pitched slightly wide, but it went off the bottom edge to mid-off where Mayank Markande pocketed an easy catch.
Tripathi and Garg then took charge as they gave the Sunrisers innings momentum, scoring at a fast clip. Garg was particularly aggressive, hitting Daniel Sams for two boundaries in the third over. He got a life when a top edge off Sams was spilled as both Jasprit Bumrah and Sanjay Yadav both went for it. Garg added insult to injury a delivery later as he pulled a waist-high short ball over fine-leg. He handed Sanjay Yadav similar treatment and hammered Markande for two boundaries in the ninth over before getting out eight runs short of a half-century, spooning a push to bowler Ramandeep Singh.
Tripathi then took charge as he blasted left-arm spinner, Sanjay Yadav, for two fours in the fourth over and took Bumrah to the cleaners off the next over, hitting the senior India pacer for a six followed by two boundaries as SRH raced to fifty. He survived a stumping appeal thanks to DRS and after going slow a bit in the middle overs, Hammered Sams for a six and two fours in the 16th over. He struck Riley Meredith for a six in the 17th over but the bowler had the last laugh as Tripathi holed out to long-on, the cross-batted shot was caught by Tilak Varma. To the naked eye, it looked like the ball had touched the grass but the third umpire ruled that the fielder had his fingers under it as he took the catch. SRH lost the momentum a bit as Aiden Markram too was out cheaply as they could not capitalise on the solid platform provided by Tripathi, Garg, and Pooran and fell short by 10-15 runs. But in the end that proved sufficient as they won by a narrow margin.
Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 193/5 in 20 overs (Rahul Tripathi 76, Priyam Garg 42, Nicholas Pooran 38; Ramandeep Singh 3/20, Jasprit Bumrah 1/32) beat Mumbai Indians 190/7 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 48, Ishan Kishan 43, Tim David 46; Umran Malik 3/23) by 3 runs.