Travishek sets up Sunrisers win, classy Klaasen slams the door shut

Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma ( PC: X)

Until the ninth over of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s innings, it felt like the visitors would win this game in a canter. Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head were making short work of a victory target of 244. Then, Allah Ghazanfar struck, first by dismissing Abhishek and breaking a 129-run (8.4 overs) opening partnership, and accounting for Ishan Kishan for a golden duck the next ball. In the following over, Hardik Pandya removed Head, who perished for a 30-ball 76. The spectators at the Wankhede Stadium found their voice and the game was suddenly wide open.

Mumbai Indians still had to remove Heinrich Klaasen. The 12th over, bowled by Ashwani Kumar, yielded 18 runs and the equation came down to 76 off 48 balls. Hardik took responsibility and bowled an economical 13th over. Only eight runs were scored, but the asking rate was still under 10.

Klaasen had a slow start to this IPL, but as the tournament approaches the business end, he is proving his Rs 23-crore worth. It was important from his perspective to negotiate Jasprit Bumrah’s second spell. The fast bowler had conceded 28 runs in his first two overs, and when he was brought back, Klaasen smoked him over extra cover for a six. It was a statement shot.

With another loss, their sixth this season, MI sank deeper into the mire. They are close to the point of no return. Sunrisers, on the other hand, secured their fifth straight win.

Ryan Rickelton — drop him if you can

The wicketkeeper-batsman had started with a blistering 81 in MI’s opening game in this IPL against KKR. Three single-digit scores followed and Rickelton lost his place in the playing XI. All along, he has been in good hitting form. Those who have been covering MI’s practice sessions would attest to it. But Quinton de Kock came into the set-up, scored a century, and Rickelton was sitting out due to the team combination. But for an injury to de Kock, he probably would not have played against Sunrisers. Cometh the chance, cometh Rickelton. A 44-ball century helped MI post 243/5. Rickelton’s 123 not out off 55 balls set the stands alight.

Jacks of all trades

Once upon a time, Will Jacks used to play as an opening batsman. Gradually, he settled into a middle-order role — someone who can clobber bowling and bowl tight off-spin. The Surrey man is a jack of all trades. With Rohit Sharma out injured, MI decided to open the innings with him. Jacks scored 46 off 22 balls and stitched a 93-run partnership with Rickelton. It set the tone for MI’s innings.

SKY-fall unabated

In an innings where every other batsman, who had the opportunity to face more than 10 balls, reached double figures, Suryakumar Yadav fell for a run-a-ball five. A slower bouncer from Eshan Malinga got big on him and an attempted pull went to Abhishek at deep fine leg. India’s T20I captain has so far scored 162 runs from eight innings in this IPL. Surya is working hard in the nets, but it is not translating into performances in matches. His lean patch is now becoming a matter of concern for his team.

Abhishek takes the Orange Cap

The Sunrisers opener versus Bumrah was always going to be an interesting match-up in this game. The great fast bowler decided to target the southpaw with the short ball into the body, but his radar was off. A couple of wides were followed by a length ball which Abhishek dispatched several rows back over the long-on boundary. Hardik replaced Bumrah with Jacks, and Abhishek welcomed him with a couple of fours and a six. In the process, he became the tournament’s highest run-scorer, surpassing Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to take the Orange Cap. He now has 425 runs from nine innings at an average of 53.12 and a strike rate of 209.35. Let the show continue.

At the other end, Head took Trent Boult to the cleaners. Thanks to the two openers, Sunrisers raced to 92 without loss at the end of the powerplay. From there, it was always the visitors’ game to lose.

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The post Travishek sets up Sunrisers win, classy Klaasen slams the door shut appeared first on Sports News Portal | Revsportz.



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