Mumbai Indians' difficult season continued on Tuesday as the reigning Indian Premier League champions slumped to a 31-run defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Chasing just 119 to win at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai were bowled out for 87 in less than 19 overs. Having won their third IPL title last season, Mumbai are currently second-bottom of the eight-team league after winning just one of their first six games. Only Delhi Daredevils' inferior run-rate keeps Mumbai from last place.
Mumbai hopes of a second victory would have been high when the bowlers combined to bowl Hyderabad out inside 19 overs.
Mitchell McClenaghan struck first, bowling Shikhar Dhawan (5) before the New Zealand bowler removed Wriddhiman Saha for a second-ball duck.
Manish Pandey (16) was the next out, becoming Hardik Pandya's first wicket before Shakib Al Hasan (2) was run out). Panfya then claimed the key wicket of Hyderabad captain Kane Williamson (29) as the visitors sunk to 63-5.
Yusuf Pathan (29) offered some fight from the middle order, but after Mohammad Nabi (14) was bowled by Mayank Markande, the Hyderabad tail was exposed and swiftly dealt with.
However, if the Mumbai bowlers bowled well to restrict Hyderabad, the visiting team's attack proved even more effective.
Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan, the top-ranked Twenty20 bowler in the world, produced a miserly economic rate of 2.75 while claiming the wickets of Krunal Pandya - whose 24-run knock was Mumbai's second-highest score - and Kieron Pollard (9).
Apart from Pandya, opening batsman Suryakumar Yadav (34) was the only other Mumbai player to reach double figures.
"We've got ourselves to blame, 118 on any wicket, we should have been able to get that," said Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma, who scored just two runs. "We just weren't there. Very happy with how the bowlers bowled. Our batters let us down again.
"There are so many things I want to talk about, but I don't want to pinpoint. We won't drop our heads. We needed to show some intent but we didn't. It was always going to be tough, the shot-making wasn't going to be easy, but they kept us guessing all the time. A few of us played bad shots including myself."
The victory keeps Hyderabad two points off Kings XI Punjab and level with second-placed Chennai Super Kings.
On Wednesday, Royal Challengers Bangalore will host Chennai at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium aiming to kickstart their season. Bangalore lie in sixth place after two wins from their first five games.
