IPL 2021 | MI vs SRH: Hits & Flops as Mumbai’s consolation win insufficient for its playoffs qualification

It was always going to be an impossible task for Mumbai to win a game by a margin of 171 in the Indian Premier League which prides itself on competitiveness. It turned out to be exactly that as even after scoring 235 with the bat, the Paltan could only by 42 runs against the wooden spoon holders Sunrisers Hyderabad to bow out of the race for Playoffs and a hattrick of titles. 

This 42 run win also made sure that Kolkata Knight Riders went through to the Playoffs and will now play Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Eliminator on Tuesday, October 12. 

Although the game didn’t turn out as the Mumbai team would have wanted it to, still Indian fans would be happy to see two of its important players from the perspective of the T20 World Cup in Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav getting among runs just at the right time. 

Apart from Surya and Ishan another player, who used to be in contention for a place in the side early on showed glimpses of the reason for it. All of them along with the failures from this game would be discussed in the section called Hits and Flops. 

Hits 

Ishan Kishan

After the magnificent fifty against Rajasthan which made sure that Mumbai remained in contention even till its last game, Ishan started from where he had left. He was all over the Sunrisers bowlers right from the word go and didn’t waste even a single minute in his pursuit of getting Mumbai to such a target from where they could try for the 170 runs win. 

The pocket-sized dynamite reached his fifty in just 15 balls, the fastest for a Mumbai Indians player. He was also in the hunt of becoming the fastest Mumbai player to hundred runs, but one rising back of length ball from Umran Malik got a nick off his bat and Wriddhiman Saha didn’t have to do much to pouch that safely in his wicketkeeping gloves. 

But before getting out, the Patna born had hit 84 off just 32 balls which included 11 fours and four sixes coming from his willow. For this effort, the 23-year-old was rightly chosen Man of the Match. 

Suryakumar Yadav

If Ishan had carried the form, Surya was coming off what has been a very frustrating and equally less productive season of play in this year’s IPL for him. Naturally so, in an attempt when Mumbai wanted to get quick and as many runs as possible, the right-hander was sent in after Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard, which is not his usual position. 

But in mind, the 31-year-old had something to prove, not to others, but to himself because he had gotten the national call up after much struggle and he wouldn’t have wanted to get into the T20 World Cup 2021 on the back of people discussing his name among undeserving candidates. 

So what did Surya do? Well, he played the best ever knock in his IPL career, making 82 off just 40 balls, before getting caught at deep square leg off a slower delivery from Holder. In his innings, the Indian Mr 360 degrees, as he is referred to by many, hit 13 fours and three sixes. 

Surya, along with Kishan was one of the reasons for Mumbai getting to such a big total even as big guns like skipper Rohit Sharma, Pandya brothers and Pollard failed to make an impact with the bat. 

Manish Pandey

From not being part of the playing XI for the last four games to captaining the side and then scoring an unbeaten 69 off just 41 balls, Manish Pandey’s season took a U-turn with injuries to regular skippers and vice-captain, Kane Williamson and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. 

The right-hander looked confident in his crease and was playing with a finesse reminiscing his form from two seasons ago. Hotting on the up, pulling the ball and playing those beautiful drives, Pandey was showcasing all he knows in this game. 

Courtesy of great strike play, he played the anchor role brilliantly, with only lacking that there was nobody else with him to hit home at the end. In his knock, the 32-year-old hit seven fours and two sixes. 

Flops

Jason Holder

While all the bowlers got the treatment at the hands of the Mumbai batters, Holder in particular was taken to the cleaners a lot more than others in this game. Although he did pick up four wickets, all of them apart from Hardik Pandya’s coming in the death when batters were throwing the willow at anything in their arc. The West Indian went for 52 runs in his four overs, which was his most expensive spell in this season. 

Though Siddarth Kaul too went for 54 runs in his four overs and didn’t even pick a wicket, Holder also failed as an all-rounder as he was out for a solitary run when his team needed him to fire all cylinders with those big levers if they were to have a shot at chasing the target after the loss of the openers. 

Mohammad Nabi

Given a chance due to Williamson’s injury, Afghan Mohammad Nabi or the president as he is known among his teammates wasn’t really able to stamp his authority. Bowling to the left-hander and being an off-spinner, he went for too many runs than expected. 

He was given the first over itself to try and put on some tight overs and build pressure on the batting side, but in return, he conceded 33 runs from his three overs and wasn’t even able to pick any wicket. 

With the bat, he was a big disappointment as well. After the kind of start that Abhishek Sharma and Jason Roy gave, putting together 64 in just 5.2 overs, it was the responsibility of senior players like Nabi to make sure that the SRH’s chase remained alive. 

Instead, what the 36 years old did was to get out cheaply. He could score only three of four balls before Piyush Chawla got him caught in the deep. Though his performance was meaningless with bat and ball, he did achieve the rare feat of becoming the first fielder to complete five catches in an IPL game.