Defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad strengthened their hold on the fourth and final play-offs spot of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as they thumped top-placed Mumbai Indians by seven wickets at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here yesterday.
Playing their final home game of the league stage, Hyderabad restricted Mumbai to 138 for 7 in 20 overs, before Shikhar Dhawan (62 not out off 46 deliveries) and Moises Henriques (44 off 35) shared a 91-run stand for the second wicket to steer them home with 1.4 overs to spare.
Following this win, Hyderabad, with 15 points from 13 games, eliminated Delhi Daredevils (eight points from 11 games) from the race for the play-offs. But Hyderabad’s place in the knock-outs is not confirmed, as fifth-placed Kings XI Punjab (10 points from 11 matches) can still qualify for the play-offs.
Only Mumbai have sealed their berth in the play-offs, while Kolkata Knight Riders (16 points from 12 matches) and Rising Pune Supergiant (16 points from 12 matches) are strong contenders.
Punjab will have to win all of their remaining three games to be in the hunt for the play-offs.
Hyderabad will travel to Kanpur to face Gujarat Lions in their final league game. Hence, going by their poor away record this edition, it was important for the David Warner-led side to win at home yesterday.
Coming into the game on the back of two consecutive losses, they needed to raise their game and they did.
Winning the toss and electing to bat, Mumbai initially struggled on a slower pitch and needed Rohit Sharma’s sublime 67 off 45 deliveries to get to 138 for 7 in a crucial match for Hyderabad as far as play-offs chances are concerned. Mumbai’s second-highest scorer was Parthiv Patel with 23.
The classy stroke-maker that he is, Rohit was the only batsman who could take on Siddharth Kaul (3 for 24), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2 for 29), Mohamed Nabi (1 for 13) and Rashid Khan (1 for 22).
Nabi struck in his fourth delivery, running through the defence of Lendl Simmons (1). Nabi’s effective bowling resulted in another wicket as a desperate Nitish Rana (9) pulled medium pacer Kaul to Bhuvneshwar at mid-off, as Mumbai were reduced to 22 for 2 in 4.1 overs.
Parthiv hit a Kaul delivery straight to Warner at long-on, as Mumbai reeled at 36 for 3.
Then, Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya (15) forged a 60-run stand for the fourth wicket to bail the team out of the trouble.
In the 15th over, Pandya lost his wicket, top-edging Rashid to Enriques at cover in the second ball, as Hyderabad lost their fourth wicket for 96.
Rohit then completed his fifty and further threatened the hosts with a four and a six against Mohamed Siraj and Bhuvneshwar respectively.
His innings ended when he played a Kaul delivery on to his stumps in the first delivery of the 19th over.
The edition’s leading wicket-taker Bhuvneshwar then did the job for Hyderabad by removing Kieran Pollard (5) and Karn Sharma (5) as Mumbai were restricted to 138 for 7.
Chasing the small target, Hyderabad suffered an early nightmare as captain and leading run-scorer Warner (6) was plumbed in front of the wickets against left-arm pacer Mitchell McClenaghan in the first ball of the second over.
Then Henriques joined hands with Dhawan and the pair, by the end of Powerplay (6), they took Hyderabad to 43 for 1.
Having got a grip of the pitch, they stepped up the gear as Henriques employed hook and pull shots against medium pacers to good effect, while Dhawan used his feet and experience beautifully against the spinners, especially leg-spinner Karn Sharma.
Having collected 40 runs in the next four overs, the left-right combo put the hosts in command, with only 56 required from 10 overs.
The partnership was broken by paceman Jasprit Bumrah, who found a leading edge off Henrique and was holed out at short cover by Rohit.
Dhawan, however, completed his half-century in 35 deliveries, as he drove Hyderabad near Mumbai’s total.
Yuvraj Singh (9) continued his inconsistent show as he drove a delivery from Malinga to Pandya at cover, with the home team at 112 for 3 in 14.4 overs.
Dhawan and Vijay Shankar (15 not out) then saw the team home as Hyderabad posted their sixth win out of seven games at this stadium.

BRIEF SCORES: Mumbai Indians 138 for 7 (Rohit 67; Kaul 3-24, Bhuvneshwar 2-29) lose to Sunrisers Hyderabad 140 for 3 (Dhawan 62 not out, Henriques 44) by seven wickets