Mumbai 142-6 (20 ov)
Hyderabad 145-3 (17.3 ov)
Sunrisers Hyderabad win by 7 wickets
Stay at the wicket, the runs and wins will come. The winning mantra for IPL9 stayed true at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium and worked for Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday night as they beat Mumbai Indians by seven wickets.
David Warner has not been much of an inspiration under the captain’s cap for Hyderabad but his bat did the talking to get his team the first points of this season.
It also helped that the Mumbai batsmen continued to flounder for a third time in four matches and a total of 142 for six was never going to be too stiff for the hosts.
The only thing that Hyderabad needed to do in chasing was stick to the basics. Warner got it right as a batsman for his first big knock, a flawless 90 from 59 balls with seven boundaries and four sixes.
Towards the end of their chase, he was seeing the ball so big as a football that, cramped for space to a rising delivery, an awkward swat still sailed over the ropes for a six.
Warner was modest to take the credit though in the post-match presentation. “I will put it down to the bowlers. I asked them during the meetings to execute and back their plans,” the captain said.
“With two batsmen set in, it looked like we would be chasing 160.
“The key thing today was that the ball actually swung for 20 overs.”
In contrast, not even a rejig of the batting order helped settle Mumbai’s woes.
Captain Rohit Sharma dropped down the order to accomodate Martin Guptill, the attacking New Zealand opener who was unsold in the auction but drafted as a replacement for the injured Lendl Simmons.
Ambati Rayudu was promoted up the order after Mumbai lost both Guptill and Parthiv Patel and it was his knock of 54 runs and a late cameo from Karun Pandya that saved more blushes for Mumbai.
Pandya hit three successive sixes to spinner Bipul Sharma but missed out on a half-century by a run from 28 balls.
Rohit tried to put up a brave face by pointing to the fact that Mumbai have rose from similar situations in the past.
“We have to step up as a batting unit,” he told StarSports.
“When you get that score, you can only hope that the bowlers deliver but you can’t expect a lot from them.
“We need to see what we can do as a time. We have a lot of experience in this squad.
“All games we lost, we haven’t scored enough runs. I don’t want to press the panic button. It is too early.”
Tuesday's game: Punjab v Kolkata, 6.30pm UAE
The only setback for the well-oiled Kolkata Knight Riders came at the hands of miserable Mumbai Indians. That must rankle them and will be on guard for any complacency against Kings XI Punjab who are rejuvenated with a win over Rising Pune Supergiants.
However, two of Punjab’s stalwarts – captain David Miller and Shaun Marsh – are yet to find their touch. Both teams are expected to retain their combinations from their previous matches with no injuries reported.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport