An excellent and much-needed victory for Mumbai. It didn’t look like they’d scored enough, but crucially they dismissed the Sunrisers’ openers quickly and pretty cheaply, and there was some excellent bowling, with Malinga close to his best and McClenaghan the best of the support acts – between them their eight overs brought seven wickets and cost 43 runs, at 5.4 each. Good work. I’m off to watch the second IPL game of the day, between Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab. Bye!
Mumbai Indians win by 20 runs
20th over: Sunrisers 137-8 (Karn Sharma 2, Bhuvi Kumar 2)
Bhuvi hits the final ball to Pollard at long off, and it’s over! Mumbai Indians have a crucial victory!
19.5 overs: Sunrisers 131-8 (Karn Sharma 2, Bhuvi Kumar 0)
Bhuvi tries to paddle this over his shoulder, but misses. 23 runs needed, from 1 ball.
19.4 overs: Sunrisers 131-8 (Karn Sharma 2, Bhuvi Kumar 0)
Four! Bhuvi drives over cover, the ball landing about six inches before the rope.
19.3 overs: Sunrisers 131-8 (Karn Sharma 2, Bhuvi Kumar 0)
A slow, wide ball and Bhuvi tries to flick it to third man, but misses.
19.2 overs: Sunrisers 131-8 (Karn Sharma 2, Bhuvi Kumar 0)
The ball smacks Sharma in the legs, and they take a leg bye.
19.1 overs: Sunrisers 130-8 (Karn Sharma 2, Bhuvi Kumar 0)
Vinay Kumar takes the final over. His first ball goes for two to long off.
Updated
19th over: Sunrisers 128-8 (Karn Sharma 0, Bhuvi Kumar 0)
Reports of Malinga’s demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated. What a destructive over this is. “We want hat trick!” scream 17,000-22,000 children as he prepares to bowl at Karn Sharma, but it’s wide and frankly a bit useless, though the batsman can’t profit. There’s a leg bye off the last, and Malinga ends having taken four wickets, for 23 runs. Sunrisers need 30 from 6 balls, at five a ball.
WICKET! Steyn c Pollard b Malinga 0 (Sunrisers 127-8)
Three wickets for no runs in four balls for Malinga! Steyn comes in, smacks his first ball high towards extra cover, and Pollard runs in to catch it!
WICKET! Praveen Kumar b Malinga 0 (Sunrisers 127-7)
A wild swing, a missed ball and some demolished stumps and Malinga has his third wicket!
WICKET! Vihari c Patel b Malinga 16 (Sunrisers 127-6)
Another slower ball from Malinga to start his last over, and Vihari slashes at it and edges low to Patel!
18th over: Sunrisers 127-5 (Vihari 15, Karn Sharma 1)
McClenaghan’s final over starts with a wide full toss, but Bopara misses it completely. A couple of singles later the Englishman hits big, and gets out, and there follows a single, and a dot. The Kiwi’s four excellent overs end at the cost of 20 runs, and yield three wickets.
WICKET! Bopara c Pandya (sub) b McClenaghan 23 (Sunrisers 126-5)
Is this curtains for Sunrisers? Bopara smacks the ball over midwicket, where Pandya runs in from the boundary to collect the catch, and wheels away in celebration. He thinks the game’s won!
17th over: Sunrisers 124-4 (Bopara 22, Vihari 14)
Malinga is back, and in the process of delivering his second ball he runs into the stumps at the non-striker’s end, and a no-ball is signalled. Bopara thrashes the next towards the boundary at deep cover, only for a fielder on the rope to save four with a ludicrous one-handed diving stop. The batsmen run two, whereupon Malinga bowls a slow, wide yorker that Bopara fails to read or indeed touch. A single next ball only gives Vihari a chance to totally miss one, but the last is straight and worked off his pads by Vihari and past square leg for four. Sunrisers need 34 runs at 1.9 runs a ball.
16th over: Sunrisers 114-4 (Bopara 18, Vihari 9)
Vinay Kumar’s penultimate over – Malinga has two remaining, and McClenaghan one – is all about speed variation. After a Vihari single Bopara misses the next completely, and the next two are pulled to long on – Bopara’s shot is fielded, and he takes a single; Vihari’s is not, and goes for four. Then a slow, wide delivery so confuses Vihari that he doesn’t even swing his bat at it, but then the last is edged, safely, for four. Another time out follows.
15th over: Sunrisers 104-4 (Bopara 17, Vihari 0)
The batsmen are plugging away, but over by over the run rate is rising, and the wickets keep falling. Bopara hits McClenaghan’s first delivery past point for a couple, but that’s very much the highpoint, the rest of it featuring four singles and a wicket. Enter Vihari, who has work to do. Sunrisers require 54 runs, with 30 balls remaining, at 1.8 runs a ball.
WICKET! Rahul c Rayudu b McClenaghan 25 (Sunrisers 104-4)
Rahul tries to clear the boundary at deep extra cover, and fails. It’ll take some great hitting to see the Sunrisers home from here …
14th over: Sunrisers 99-3 (Rahul 24, Bopara 13)
Harbhajan bowls again, and after a Bopara single Rahul sweeps to backward square leg, the ball getting stopped on the rope – Simmons, the fielder, post-dive, flies over the rope, turns round, sees the ball rolling ropewards anyway, dives over again, and therefore saves four twice. What with all the diving, though, the batsmen run three. And it looks like Simmons hurt himself doing it.
13th over: Sunrisers 94-3 (Rahul 21, Bopara 11)
Due to a technological malfunction I miss most of this over, and so inevitably it’s the most action-packed for a while, featuring as it does a big old heave for six from Rahul, and a drive down the ground for four from Bopara.
12th over: Sunrisers 81-3 (Rahul 14, Bopara 5)
Harbhajan, whose second over of the day was the one that went for 18, returns for the first time since. This one goes for four.
11th over: Sunrisers 77-3 (Rahul 13, Bopara 2)
Suchith also keeps going, with the Sunrisers innings becalmed. Aside from one brutal 18-run over, they haven’t been on scoring fast enough, and there’s no improvement here – three dot balls to start the over, and three singles to end it.
10th over: Sunrisers 74-3 (Rahul 11, Bopara 1)
Vinay Kumar continues, and the batsmen add a couple of ones and a couple of twos. There’s not much between the two sides, halfway through their innings – Mumbai had two fewer runs, but had lost one wicket less – but there was probably more strength in their batting line-up.
9th over: Sunrisers 68-3 (Rahul 6, Bopara 0)
Some spin, then, from Suchith. Ojha swings at one, trying to hit through midwicket, but sends a thick outside edge flying into the air. It lands safely and the batsmen take two, and two more from the next, before Ojha takes the regrettable decision to try for six next time. After a tactical time out in comes Ravi Bopara, who defends the last couple.
WICKET! Ojha c Pollard b Suchith 9 (Sunrisers 68-3)
Sunrisers are in a bit of trouble now! Ojha tries to accelerate the scoring, and only succeeds in accelerating the ball down the throat of Pollard at long off!
8th over: Sunrisers 64-2 (Rahul 6, Ojha 5)
Vinay Kumar bowls, and the Sunrisers score blithely. Yes, blithely. Totally unhurried and untroubled. Single, single, single, single, wide, single, single.
7th over: Sunrisers 57-2 (Rahul 3, Ojha 2)
The Sunrisers have been reliant on their openers this season, and now they’ve gone without setting up a match-winning score. Interesting moments, these. Suchith bowls, and after opening with a dot ball there follows a big basket of singles.
6th over: Sunrisers 52-2 (Rahul 0, Ojha 0)
McClenaghan returns, and Dhawan plays the first ball late, with the end of his bat, deflecting it down to third man for four. A wide and a couple of dots follow, then two to square leg, before the wicket. Two fresh batsmen at the crease, both on zero, all to play for.
WICKET! Dhawan c Malinga b McClenaghan 42 (Sunrisers 52-2)
Dhawan’s beautiful innings comes to an end when he slams the ball low and hard to midwicket, where Malinga takes the catch!
5th over: Sunrisers 45-1 (Dhawan 36, Rahul 0)
Malinga continues, and Warner scores a ninth run from his sixth ball. A couple of dots later, Dhawan pushes down the ground, where it ends up in a mixed-up pile of fielder and rope. Four runs. Then a single, and Warner’s wicket to complete the over.
Updated
WICKET! Warner c Rayudu b Malinga 9 (Sunrisers 45-1)
Warner’s gone! He faces the first ball of the over and the last, which is banged in short. Warner helps it on its merry, airborne way to deep backward point, presumably unaware that someone was going to be waiting for it!
4th over: Sunrisers 39-0 (Dhawan 31, Warner 8)
Harbhajan’s back, and Dhawan goes down on one knee to paddle the first ball over his shoulder for four. The second turns beautifully past the bat, the bails are dislodged but the batsman was emphatically safe. Dhawan plays the next late, cutting past point for four, and then he skips forward to spear the next through midwicket for four more. And he’s just warming up: he sweeps the next, the ball landing just over the boundary for six, and then defends the last. 18 off the over, the most expensive of the match so far. Warner has only faced five balls so far – Dhawan’s faced 19.
Updated
3rd over: Sunrisers 21-0 (Dhawan 13, Warner 8)
Our first glimpse of Malinga, and he bowls a beauty to Dhawan, the ball flying between bat and pad but missing the stumps by a couple of inches, the bowler’s celebration having already begun. A single later he befuddles Warner with a slow ball, inducing another swing and another total miss. Five lovely deliveries to start the over, three runs from them, but then he ends it with a wide full toss which Warner only needs to deflect past point for four.
2nd over: Sunrisers 14-0 (Dhawan 10, Warner 4)
Mitchell McClenaghan comes at us from the University end, and he starts with four dot balls before he pitches one up to Dhawan, and he pushes it gently through the covers for a laid-back boundary.
1st over: Sunrisers 9-0 (Dhawan 5, Warner 4)
Mumbai start with Harbhajan, and Dhawan smacks the first ball past extra cover for four. A single later Warner gives his first ball similar treatment, cutting a wide one square for four more. Satisfied with his start, he does no further scoring.
Updated
The players are back out, time for more cricket. Let’s go!
The Sunrisers will be happier with their lot after that. Mumbai laid the foundations for a palace, and ended up building a bungalow. Good bowling, some very good fielding, and a terrible shot from Lendl Simmons just when he seemed set for a big innings combined to keep the total down, and now Mumbai will need to remove one or both of Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner before they start getting brutal.
20th over: Mumbai Indians 157-8 (Suchith 9, McClenaghan 1)
There’s no better way to start the final over than by taking wickets with the first two balls. Except wickets from the first three, I suppose. There follows a single, a wide, and then twos from the last three balls, the bowler varying his pace excellently.
WICKET! Vinay Kumar c Ojha b Bhuvi Kumar 0 (Mumbai Indians 149-8)
He’s gone first ball! A great catch, at full stretch, low behind the wicket, as Vinay edges.
WICKET! Pollard b Bhuvi Khumar 33 (Mumbai Indians 149-7)
Pollard’s gone at the start of the final over! It’s bowled full and straight, the batsman swings big and misses, and the rest – and indeed his stumps – is history.
19th over: Mumbai Indians 149-6 (Pollard 33, Suchith 3)
Boult returns, and Pollard backs off to give himself some room only for the first ball to fly too wide for him to reach, and the Kiwi grins as he swishes in vain. The next ball is also too wide for Pollard to hit, only this time he didn’t move, and Boult is grinning no more. A single later Suchith gets off the mark with a couple, and a single returns Pollard to the striker’s end. The ball is pitched short, and he swings his bat at shoulder height but it’s fielded at deep midwicket, and they run two. The last ball is very slow and very wide, Pollard stretches for it and deflects it gently to cover for a single. Eight off the over, including one wide.
18th over: Mumbai Indians 141-6 (Pollard 29, Suchith 0)
Kumar from both ends now, with Praveen given the 18th over. He starts with a wide down the leg side. The next three balls bring a single, a dot and a wicket, and then Pollard tries to play the next through midwicket, fluffs it and gets a thick edge that sends the ball through the covers. Either way, it’s a four. A wide later, he bowls a full toss that Pollard flicks off his pads and over midwicket for six. Another wide – the third of the over – later there’s another single, and Pollard will be on strike for the start of over 19.
WICKET! Harbhajan c Bhuvi Kumar b Praveen Khumar 0 (Mumbai Indians 128-6)
Harbhajan goes for a duck, lofting the ball to deep extra cover!
17th over: Mumbai Indians 126-5 (Pollard 17, Harbhajan 0)
Bhuvi Kumar is back with his third over, and his first delivery is thick-edged through the covers for four by Pollard. A single brings Rayudu on strike, but he’s promptly out, and Harbhajan can’t score off the two balls he faces. The runs just haven’t flowed (yet) here for Mumbai, despite that lightning outfield.
WICKET! Rayudu c Boult b Bhuvi Kumar 7 (Mumbai Indians 126-5)
Rayudu hits a full toss high and long to long on, where Boult is waiting, hands cupped.
16th over: Mumbai Indians 121-4 (Pollard 16, Rayudu 3)
Steyn’s back and bowls to Rayadu, who hits to backward point and takes a sharp single. It’s fielded by Dhawan and flung at the stumps at the batsman’s end, which it just misses, with Pollard perhaps a fraction short of his ground. The first five balls yield five runs and then the last is pitched short, Rayudu tries to pull and gets a massive top edge, the ball disappearing over his shoulder and away for a one-bounce four.
15th over: Mumbai Indians 112-4 (Pollard 8, Rayadu 2)
Bout’s back, and it’s another tight over, two-thirds of it delivered over the wicket, the last couple round the wicket, and yielding four singles.
14th over: Mumbai Indians 108-4 (Pollard 6, Rayadu 0)
Karn Sharma’s keeps on spinning. Rohit hits the first pretty fiercely to long on, where Steyn fields expertly to restrict the batsmen to a single. The next few go for one each, before Rohit decides it’s about time he punished one, and himself got punished as a result. Add a dot ball and you’ve got yourself an excellent over.
WICKET! Rohit c Kumar b Karn Sharma 24 (Mumbai Indians 108-4)
Rohit goes big. Rohit goes hard. Rohit sends the ball in a great big loopy arc down the throat of Kumar at deep extra cover.
13th over: Mumbai Indians 104-3 (Rohit 22, Pollard 4)
Steyn’s back, and Simmons pumps the first ball down the ground. Boult’s there, running to his left from long on, and stoops to catch the ball at knee height. But he gets it wrong, the ball slips through his hands and bobbles away for four. The next ball goes to the long off boundary for another four. Then the wicket, which brings in Kieron Pollard, who’s welcomed with a couple of fierce deliveries but flicks the next, a yorker, off his toes to deep fine leg for four.
WICKET! Simmons b Steyn 51 (Mumbai Indians 100-3)
Simmons hits successive boundaries, but then misses the ball entirely in attempting a third, and his middle stump is unrooted!
12th over: Mumbai Indians 92-2 (Simmons 43, Rohit 22)
Oooooh! Karn Sharma bowls to Simmons, who tries to hit through the covers but instead bottom edges it into the ground and just – and just is overstating it, it really was fabulously close – past the stumps. He takes a fortunate single, and Rohit slaps the next past point for four. Four singles follow.
11th over: Mumbai Indians 83-2 (Simmons 40, Rohit 16)
Praveen continues, and all of the first three balls, and the last two, go for singles. The fourth isn’t so lucky, flying off Rohit’s slightly wobbly bat and straight back over the bowler’s head for six.
10th over: Mumbai Indians 72-2 (Simmons 37, Rohit 8)
After a few of singles Karn Sharma bowls to Simmons, who trots forward and tries to send the ball into orbit. He misses completely, goes back, sets himself and tries again – and this time the ball disappears over cow corner for the day’s first six!
9th over: Mumbai Indians 62-2 (Simmons 29, Rohit 6)
Simmons tries to pull Praveen but top-edges, the ball flying up in the air and then down frustratingly short of the nearest fielder. Rohit shows him how it’s done next ball, putting much less effort into his stroke and getting far greater reward, flicking the ball off his hip behind square leg for four. There’s time for one more single, before come the over’s end the umpires signal a strategic time out.
8th over: Mumbai Indians 56-2 (Simmons 28, Rohit 1)
Some spin, then, with Karn Sharma, and after two singles from the first three Simmons tries to spear through the covers and gets an edge that, with no slip in place, rumbles away for four. Simmons hits the final ball down the ground, the bowler tries to stop and deflects it perhaps a centimetre away from the stumps, with Rohit, backing up, probably out had it hit.
Updated
7th over: Mumbai Indians 49-2 (Simmons 22, Rohit 0)
Praveen, once of the Mumbai Indians himself, bowls, and after a couple of singles Simmons swishes and mishes twice, befuddled by the bowler’s changes of pace, before digging out a yorker for one. That leaves Chand with a single ball to face, and it was to prove his last.
WICKET! Chand c Dhawan b Praveen 5 (Mumbai Indians 49-2)
At the end of an excellent over from Praveen Kumar, Chand picks out Dhawan at midwicket!
6th over: Mumbai Indians 46-1 (Simmons 20, Chand 4)
Steyn continues, and the batsmen each slightly mishit the ball for a single, before Patel flicks the ball square from shin height for four, and then gets out next ball, the Vihari only just evading the rope after pouching the ball. Unmukt Chand comes in, and pushes the first ball through cover for four. The outfield here is like lightning – he put nothing behind that shot, yet off it shot, whoosh.
WICKET! Patel c Vihari b Steyn 17 (Mumbai Indians 42-1)
Patel, having got four runs for a similar shot off the previous ball, tries to go bigger and get six with an airborn flick towards deep point, but sadly there’s a fielder there, and he comfortably collects.
5th over: Mumbai Indians 36-0 (Simmons 19, Patel 12)
Kumar returns following a change of ends, and after a couple of dots Simmons chops one down to backward point for a single, allowing Patel to push wide of mid on, just past Warner’s despairing dive and away to the rope, before snatching a leg bye from the last.
4th over: Mumbai Indians 30-0 (Simmons 18, Patel 8)
Steyn is introduced, and Simmons gets a thick edge to his first ball, which flies into the air but safe for a single, and then works the fourth just wide of slip and away for four. It is, we’re told, “frightfully hot”, with the sun glaring down on Mumbai from a cloudless blue sky.
3rd over: Mumbai Indians 23-0 (Simmons 12, Patel 7)
Boult continues, full of vim and pace but without much movement. Four runs follow, all of them singles.
2nd over: Mumbai Indians 19-0 (Simmons 10, Patel 5)
Kumar opens the bowling from the other end, and after a few dot balls Patel flicks one over midwicket for four, and Kumar responds with three wides in four balls, all of them sent just down the leg side. With all these children watching, the game is being soundtracked by a constant high-pitched squeal. The pre-match publicity stated there would be 17,000 of them, then Mumbai’s tweet just before the start of play numbered them at 18,000, while the commentary team said there were 22,000. They’re multiplying. By the time the game ends there’ll be millions of them.
1st over: Mumbai Indians 11-0 (Simmons 10, Patel 0)
Boult starts us off, and Simmons hits his second ball through the covers for a couple, and the next, stroked pretty gently through midwicket, rockets away for four across a lightning outfield. A wide later, Simmons works one square off his pads for another four. Mumbai have already lost 13 wickets in the powerplay in this IPL, the most in the league, and need to stay resolute here, for a while at least.
The players are out and we’re all set for action. Deep breath now. No, deeper. Right. All set.
… and the SunRisers, with Ravi Bopara in, Eoin Morgan out and Boult and Steyn set to open the bowling:
Ready to watch @DaleSteyn62 and @trent_boult in action together today? Here's the #SRH playing XI #OrangeArmy #MIvSRH pic.twitter.com/5oEOqJsUVF
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) April 25, 2015
This is the Mumbai Indians team today:
Let's put a show for 18,000 children at the Wankhede! #ApunKaSuperstar #EducationForAll pic.twitter.com/0sY5SbP3o2
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) April 25, 2015
Today’s match will be witnessed in the stadium by “over 17,000 underprivileged children”, all bussed in and provided with food, drink and cricket.
Suchith replaces Bumrah and Vinay replaces Hardik in the starting XI. #ApunKaSuperstar #EducationForAll
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) April 25, 2015
.@SunRisers, let's put up a great show for all the children at the Wankhede! #ApunKaSuperstar #EducationForAll
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) April 25, 2015
Mumbai Indians win the toss and bat first
Rohit Sharma says: “We have to get off to a good start and then see what we get out of the last 14 overs. It’s a high-scoring ground so we might use the powerplay at the end of the innings.”
Two changes per team – I’ll confirm line-ups when I get them.
Hello world!
Mumbai Indians, bottom of the table despite having played a game more than five of the seven teams ahead of them, are in a deep, deep hole and are struggling to tell the shovel from the ladder. Today they really need to take a couple of upward steps, as any further pit-digging is likely to leave them permanently subterranean. Or something. No side has lost six of their first seven and still qualified for the knock-out stages.
Sunrisers are perhaps a little reliant on David Warner, but he’s got broad shoulders and can probably carry an entire team for a while.
Simon will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s the match report of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s rout of Rajasthan Royals:
Mitchell Starc’s outstanding spell of three wickets for 22 runs and an untroubled 62 not out from Virat Kohli helped the beleaguered Royal Challengers Bangalore to a huge win against the Rajasthan Royals.
After a comfortable start, the table-topping Royals lost both openers in quick succession, with the in-form Ajinkya Rahane falling LBW to Harshal Patel for 18 in the fifth over and Shane Watson holing out for 26 in the sixth.
The innings continued to stutter, with boundaries at a premium, and Karun Nair became the third wicket to fall, run out thanks to a good throw from Harshal on the boundary rope. He was followed by Deepak Hooda for just one and Sanju Samson for four – both bowled – to leave the Royals in trouble at 89 for five.
You can read the rest by clicking here.
