Openers Quinton de Kock and David Warner scored maiden fifties for Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad in this edition, but it was the performance in the death overs — with bat and ball — that proved decisive in the IPL clash between the two teams at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
de Kock’s 67 (39b, 4x4, 4x6) and valuable contributions from the big-hitters — Kieron Pollard, going berserk at the back-end helped Mumbai Indians amass 208 for five against an attack missing the injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Despite Warner’s maiden fifty of the season (60, 44b, 5x4, 2x6), an on-song pace troika of Mumbai Indians meant Sunrisers’ chase fell apart in the latter half.
With Mumbai Indians conceding just 80/5 in the last 10 overs at the high-scoring venue meant that Sunrisers could trudge to 174 for seven, the first sub-200 total of the season at Sharjah. At the halfway stage, at 94 for two, Sunrisers was on course to make it yet another thrilling finish.
Mini-battles
However, Trent Boult and James Pattinson won mini-battles against their national counterparts to seal the fate of the game. Left-armer Boult’s tennis-ball bounce coerced his Black Caps captain Kane Williamson into an edge in the 13th over. When Pattinson won the all-Australian battle against Warner in the 16th, courtesy a diving effort by Ishan Kishan at short third-man, the game was all but over.
Jasprit Bumrah then proved too hot for the inexperienced lower-order, which resulted in a comfortable win. 
Earlier, de Kock’s knock ensured that Chris Lynn will have to keep cooling his heels. Had Manish Pandey not dropped a regulation catch off leggie Samad at long-on in the seventh over, de Kock’s (on 16) and MI’s misery would have compounded.
Despite Pandey’s stunning effort to dismiss Ishan Kishan in the 15th, the last six overs saw 74 runs being scored, with Krunal hammering Siddarth Kaul for 20 runs off the last four balls.
Scoreboard
Mumbai Indians innings: Rohit Sharma c Bairstow b Sandeep Sharma 6; Quinton de Kock c and b Rashid Khan 67; Suryakumar Yadav c T Natarajan b S Kaul 27; Ishan Kishan c Manish Pandey b Sandeep Sharma 31; Hardik Pandyab S Kaul 28; Kieron Pollard not out 25; Krunal Pandya not out 20. Extras4 (lb 1, w 2, nb 1)
Total 208 (5 wickets, 20 overs)
Fall of Wickets 1-6, 2-48, 3-126, 4-147, 5-188
Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling: Sandeep Sharma 4-0-41-2, T Natarajan 4-0-29-0, Siddarth Kaul 4-0-64-2, Abdul Samad 2-0-27-0, Rashid Khan 4-0-22-1, Kane Williamson 2-0-24-0.
Sunrisers Hyderabad Innings: David Warner c Ishan Kishan b Pattinson 60; Jonny Bairstow c Hardik Pandya b Boult 25; Manish Pandey c Pollard b Pattinson 30; Kane Williamson c de Kock b Boult 3; Priyam Garg c Rahul Chahar b Krunal 8; Abhishek Sharma b Bumrah 10; Abdul Samad c Rohit b Bumrah 20; Rashid Khan not out 3; Sandeep Sharma not out 0. Extras: (lb 5, w 10, ) 15
Total: (For 7 wkts, 20 overs) 174
Fall of Wickets: 1/34 2/94 3/116 4/130 5/142 6/168 7/172
Mumbai Indians bowling: Trent Boult 4-0-28-2, James Pattinson 4-0-29-2, Krunal Pandya 4-0-35-1, Jasprit Bumrah 4-0-41-2, Kieron Pollard 3-0-20-0, Rahul Chahar 1-0-16-0.
