Mumbai Indians skipper laments batting failure for heavy loss to SunRisers Hyderabad
It was not our day, said Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma after his team suffered a seven-wicket loss at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Pepsi Indian Premier League match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here yesterday.
Dhawan was the hero of the match with his unbeaten 74, helping SunRisers achieve the 130-run target in 18 overs.
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Rohit Sharma
It was the fourth consecutive win for Sunrisers on their home surface. They now have 12 points from 10 matches.
For Mumbai, it was their fourth away loss in five matches. “Probably we were 10-15 runs short. You have to give credit to SunRisers’ bowlers. They bowled well, stuck to their plan. Sometimes it doesn’t come off. It was one of those days where our batting didn’t click,” Sharma said after suffering his first loss as captain in four games in IPL-VI.
“Last nine games we scored more than 70 runs in last five overs, but today was one of those days when things didn’t go our way,” he added.
No home advantage
Sharma said Hyderabad deserved to win. “I don’t believe too much in home advantage. There is an advantage in playing under home conditions. You know the conditions well. But whoever plays better cricket on a given day, wins a game. They played better cricket than us today, so they won,” he said.
It was another impressive knock by Dhawan, who hit nine boundaries and a six in his 74 off 55 deliveries. The 27-year-old hit his second unbeaten half-century in three matches he played in IPL-VI.
The 74-run partnership for the third wicket between Dhawan and local boy Hanuma Vihari prevented the visitors from defending the low total on a slow-pitch.
Dhawan, playing his first match at home ground, looked solid at the other end. For the second wicket they added 37 off 34 balls before Harbhajan Singh sent Kumar Sangakkara (21 off 21) back with a return catch. From there on, the southpaw made the chase look easy.
Mature knock
Sharma said the southpaw batted like a mature guy. “It was not a big total and he (Dhawan) took his time and played accordingly,” said MI’s stand-in skipper.
Earlier, Mumbai managed 129 for four wickets in 20 overs on a slow pitch with Dwayne Smith being the highest scorer with 38 off 40 balls.
Ishant Sharma was impressive with figures of 4-1-15-2 while Amit Mishra claimed two for 34.
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