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Mumbai Indians (MI) cricketers jubilate with bowler Alzari Joseph after winning against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday. (PTI)[/caption]
Hyderabad, April 6 (PTI): Young West Indies pacer Alzzari Joseph made a dream IPL debut by recording the best bowling figures in tournament's history as Mumbai Indians picked up a 40-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in a low-scoring game here on Saturday.
Keiron Pollard hammered an unbeaten 46 off 26 balls, helping Mumbai Indians recover to 136 for seven after an ordinary start.
While Pollard was the stand out batsman, another West Indian in Joseph made all the difference in the bowling department, ending with sensational figures of six for 12 in 3.4 overs, bettering the effort of Pakistan pacer Sohail Tanvir, who had taken six for 14 in the inaugural IPL edition in 2008. Hyderabad were all out for 96 in 17.4 overs.
It was the third win for Mumbai Indians in five games while Hyderabad suffered their second loss in five matches.
Considering the stellar form of openers David Warner and Jonny Bairstow, 137 was expected to be a comfortable chase for Hyderabad. But they both were dismissed cheaply and that exposed the middle order which had not been tested much courtesy the devastating run of the openers. I
It was the first time this season that Hyderabad lost a wicket in the first six overs.
Young West Indies pacer Joseph bowled a dream first over in the IPL, dismissing Warner in a wicket maiden. In his following over, the 22-year-old got rid of Vijay Shankar to leave Hyderabad at 43 for three in seven overs and spice up the contest.
Leggie Rahul Chahar picked up two important wickets to increase the pressure on the home team which was reduced to 62 for five in the 12th over.
The hosts needed 53 off the last 30 balls and ended up well short of the target with Joseph running through the opposition line-up.
Earlier, it seemed Hyderabad would limit Mumbai to a sub-120 total before Pollard's brute power came to the fore, enabling the visitors to collect 39 crucial runs off the final 12 balls.
Until Pollard cut loose, Hyderabad put up an impressive bowling effort on a slow pitch.
While Hyderabad fielded an unchanged side, Mumbai Indians made two changes in the playing eleven with Ishan Kishan replacing Yuvraj Singh and Joseph coming in for Lasith Malinga, who has gone back to Sri Lanka to play in a domestic event.
It wasn't the best of starts for Mumbai, who lost captain Rohit Sharma (11) and Suryakumar Yadav (7) early to be 30 for two in six overs. Rohit was dropped in the first over by Siddarth Kaul but could not make much use of that life and was holed out at deep midwicket off Mohammad Nabi in the fourth over.
Suryakumar, who had hit a crucial 59 in the previous game against CSK, too did not last long and was adjudged leg before wicket off Sandeep Sharma.
Stroke play was proving to be difficult on a slow surface and the situation became worse for the visitors when the in-form opener Quinton de Kock (19) departed after trying to increase the scoring rate.
The batsmen especially struggled against Nabi, who ended with envious figures of 13 for one in four overs as Mumbai crawled to 52 for three in 10 overs.
After Nabi completed his full quota of overs, his Afghanistan teammate Rashid Khan made life tough for the opposition batsmen. The Hyderabad pacers -- Sharma and Kaul -- too were up to the task, using their pace well on a slow wicket to stifle the batsmen.
Mumbai's innings hardly had any flow before Pollard provided the much needed final flourish in the death overs by smashing Kaul for three massive sixes in the 19th over that went for 20 runs.
Bhuvneshwar's final over went for 19 runs with Pollard collecting two fours and a six, giving Mumbai something to bowl at. Poor fielding let Hyderabad down towards the end of the innings.
Chennai Super Kings held their nerves to outclass Kings XI Punjab by 22 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as K.L. Rahul (55 off 47) and Sarfaraz Khan's (67 off 59) laborious efforts went in vain at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Saturday.
Despite getting off to a horrible start in their chase of 161, Punjab opener Rahul and Sarfaraz stitched an excellent 110-run stand for the third wicket. The duo didn't attack the Chennai spinners in the slog overs and waited for the seamers to come in, but their decision backfired as the required run-rate mounted to 16 in the last few overs.
With just seven runs on board, Punjab lost opener Chris Gayle (5) and Mayank Agarwal (0) cheaply, thanks to Harbhajan Singh who accounted for both the wickets in the second over.
However, Rahul and Sarfaraz then denied Chennai to make any further inroads as the duo played some sensible cricket and went on to forge a crucial partnership.
At one stage, Punjab looked in a position to clinch the game as their scoreboard read 105/2 in 15 overs, but Harbhajan and Imran Tahir's economical 16th and 17th overs further raised the required run-rate.
As a result, Rahul tried to smash a Scott Kuggeleijn's delivery out of the park but ended giving an easy catch to Ravindra Jadeja in the deep.
Deepak Chahar added more sorrow to the Punjab camp as the pacer sent back David Miller (6) with the visitors needing 26 off the last over.
Kuggeleijn won the match for Chennai by bowling some fine slower deliveries to concede just three runs in the final over besides dismissing Sarfaraz, as the yellow brigade comfortably registered their fourth win of the tournament.
For Chennai, Harbhajan and Kuggeleijn bagged two wickets each.
Earlier, Chennai rode on fine knocks by Faf du Plessis (54 off 38), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (37* off 23 balls) and Ambati Rayudu (21* off 15 balls) to post 160/3 in 20 overs.
Punjab skipper Ravichandran Ashwin was the star with the ball as he picked up all the three wickets that fell to finish with figures of 3/23 from his four overs. While his strikes stemmed the flow of runs, Chennai scored 52 runs in the last five overs with Dhoni finishing well along with Rayudu.
Calling correctly, Chennai started well with Shane Watson and du Plessis looking to take on the Punjab bowlers. While Watson looked to attack from the word go, du Plessis looked to settle down before taking the attack to the opposition. After all, the Proteas skipper was playing his first match in this year's IPL.
The hosts looked comfortably placed, having scored 54 runs in the Powerplay without losing a wicket. But Ashwin broke the opening stand when he sent back Watson, caught by Sam Curran, for 26. Playing across the line to a carrom ball, Watson holed out to Curran in the deep with the scoreboard reading 56/1 in the 8th over.
du Plessis looked to continue the good work with Suresh Raina as the two looked to pick the ones and twos with the field spreading out. Chennai ended the 10th over with the score on 71 and du Plessis batting on 34 off 25 balls.
With spinners bowling from both sides, du Plessis looked to deal in sixes, but it was Ashwin who had the last laugh as he sent back du Plessis (54 off 38 balls) with another carrom ball.
Raina too followed suit when he tried to slog sweep an in-form Ashwin, only to miss the ball and see his stumps get rattled. With Raina gone for 17 in the 14th over, it was left to Dhoni and Rayudu to first consolidate and then finish well.
Brief Scores:
Chennai Super Kings: 160/3 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 54, M.S. Dhoni 37*; R. Ashwin 3/23) beat Kings XI Punjab 138/5 in 20 overs (Sarfaraz Khan 67, K.L. Rahul 55; Harbhajan Singh 2/17) by 22 runs
