Sunrisers Hyderabad boosted their Indian Premier League play-off chances by defeating already-qualified Mumbai Indians by seven wickets on Monday.
Chasing 139 to win, after Rohit Sharma (67) had scored nearly half of Mumbai’s runs, Hyderabad chased down the total with 10 balls to spare.
After overcoming the early dismissal of captain David Warner (6), Shikhar Dhawan (62 not out) and Moises Henriques (44) led the way for Hyderabad. Vijay Shankar (15) then joined Dhawan at the crease — after Youvraj Singh came and went for nine — to see home the victory.
Siddarth Kaul did the damage with the ball for Hyderabad, claiming 3-24 and accounting for three of Mumbai’s top four batsmen.
“Everything went to plan. Credit to the bowlers, they did the job and gave us a small total to chase,” Warner said. “I asked one of the top four to go through the end of the game and they did that.
“I just thought up front with their left-handers and with the long boundary and breeze, I bowled Nabi. It was a bit of a hit-or-miss, but it paid off tonight. We just treat every game as a knockout game.”
Hyderabad, occupying the fourth and final play-off place, now hold a five-point lead over Kings XI Punjab, who have two games in hand.
Should Hyderabad win their final game — against Gujarat Lions — they will qualify for the play-offs.
* The National staff
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