They needed a victory, and they got one. But it was a near thing for Mumbai Indians, who flirted with a sixth defeat in seven IPL outings before the bowling of Lasith Malinga carried them over the line against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The signs looked auspicious for Mumbai when Lendl Simmons racked up a solid half century inside 12 overs. But the West Indian batsman’s woeful dismissal – an air shot as he went for a third successive boundary – was the cue for a reversal of fortune that left the IPL strugglers facing Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner, Sunrisers’ formidable opening pairing, with only a 157-run haul for protection.
That they met the challenge and went on to win by 20 runs was largely down to the round-arm heroics of Malinga, ably abetted by his team-mate Mitchell McClenaghan, the New Zealand seamer.
Warner’s afternoon came to an end in the fifth over, when he was caught off Malinga at deep backward point, and within minutes Dhawan followed, Malinga catching the India international off McClenaghan at short mid-wicket.
Even so, it was not until the penultimate over, when Malinga conjured another dramatic intervention, that the outcome was effectively sealed.
Perhaps jolted into life after running into the stumps in the 17th over, Malinga claimed three wickets in four balls to leave Mumbai fans ecstatic and Hanuma Vihari, Praveen Kumar and Dale Steyn wondering what on Earth went wrong.
