Pollard power keeps SRH winless this season

Sunrisers Hyderabad remained winless in IPL 2021 after suffering another implosion, this time against Mumbai Indians, in Chennai on Saturday (April 17). Having lost their opening two games of the tournament, SRH pressed the panic button and made wholesale changes to their XI and even though it appeared as if it was going to pay off at one stage, a familiar collapse unfolded that saw them fall short by 13 runs.

More on SRH entering panic mode

SRH went into this game as the only winless team in the tournament. Even though that didn't call for a huge overhaul, the men in Orange still opted for that route. Virat Singh's long wait to make his debut in the IPL came to an end as he became SRH's new number 4 on the night with Kane Williamson still remaining on the sidelines. Unfortunately, the batsman adopted a conservative approach on his maiden outing and when he did decide to break the shackles, he mistimed one straight to long off.

Abhishek Sharma too failed to gauge the situation and perished by attempting a glory shot when his side still needed 47 to win. Khaleel Ahmed, coming in place of T Natarajan, had a good outing as he remained economical while also managing to pick up Hardik Pandya's wicket. Surprise pick Mujeeb ur Rahman made use of the slow conditions on offer at the Chepauk by finishing with figures of 2/29 but it will be interesting to see if he manages to hold on to his spot given SRH's middle order woes.

Warner-Bairstow reunite

Chasing 151 for victory, SRH were in the hunt at one stage. One of the fearsome opening pairs in IPL reunited again as Jonny Bairstow found himself moved back up top alongside skipper David Warner. The ploy to make the most of the powerplay against the hard new ball paid off for SRH as Bairstow went on a rampage with Warner playing second fiddle. Having scored only five runs from the first two overs, Bairstow gave SRH the much-needed impetus by opening up against Trent Boult. The first four balls of the third over saw the New Zealand pacer concede three fours and a six and Bairstow went one step further by smashing two more sixes in the following over off Adam Milne, who had replaced Marcos Jansen. One more six followed in Krunal Pandya's over inside the powerplay as MI struggled to tie down the English opener. He finally self-destructed by going too deep in the crease against Rahul Chahar to get dismissed hit-wicket.

Weren't SRH cruising by then?

They certainly were. But as we have seen in this tournament so far at this particular venue, teams do back themselves to stage a comeback in the second half of the innings. When Bairstow departed, SRH needed 84 from 76 with nine wickets still in hand and nine out of times, it's an equation that should have been overhauled. However, Manish Pandey first miscued one to get caught at long on and then Warner was found well short of his crease when he attempted a risky single. His wicket gave MI a huge opening against an inexperienced SRH middle order.

Rahul struck twice in the same over to further dent SRH and suddenly the batting side found themselves needing 47 from the final five overs. Vijay Shankar reignited SRH's hopes with successive sixes off Krunal but MI's trusted death bowling duo of Boult and Jasprit Bumrah came up with the goods once again to finish the job.

Who starred for MI with the bat?

As he often does on these slowish surfaces, Kieron Pollard was MI's man with the bat. Rohit Sharma gave them a quick start as he realised the need to maximise the powerplay. His blitz helped MI post 53/0 in the powerplay but Vijay's medium pace proved to be too hot to handle for MI on this surface. The allrounder made good use of his variations and first removed Rohit before dismissing the dangerous Suryakumar Yadav. MI struggled to get going in the middle overs as SRH kept things very tight.

Unfortunately for MI, Ishan Kishan endured a torrid time in the middle where he even struggled to rotate the strike on a consistent basis. Pollard, who was batting on 3 off 8 at one stage, had to bail his side once again right at the death as he first broke the shackles with a six off Mujeeb before fetching useful boundaries in the final two overs. MI at one stage were in serious danger of not even breaching 140 but Pollard gave the ideal finish to the innings by smashing the final two balls for sixes and that unbeaten 35 eventually had a huge say on the final result.

Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 150/5 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 40, Kieron Pollard 35*; Vijay Shankar 2-19) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 137 in 19.4 overs (Jonny Bairstow 43, David Warner 36; Rahul Chahar 3-19) by 13 runs