Captain David Warner led from the front as SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) not only handed Mumbai Indians (MI) a reality check as they outclassed the reigning champions by 10 wickets in the last league match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday but also enter playoffs.
SRH, thus, became the fourth and final team to advance to the playoffs, after MI, Delhi Capitals (DC), and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
The SRH win shattered the hopes of the fifth-placed Kolkata Knight Riders to advance to playoffs. KKR finished with 14 points, the same as SRH and RCB, but lost out on the net run rate (-0.214).
After the outcome of Tuesday’s contest, MI finished the round-robin stage at the first spot with 18 points and is flowed by DC (16 points), SRH (14, net run rate +0.608), and RCB (14, net run rate -0.172).
Kings XI Punjab, Chennai Super Kings, and Rajasthan Royals finished sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively on net run rate, as they had 12 points each.
In a must-win game, SRH first rode a stunning performance by their bowlers who restricted the mighty Mumbai to a modest total (149/8 wickets in 20 overs) and later rode master classes by Warner (85 not out off 58 balls) and Wriddhiman Saha (58 not out off 45) to overhaul the target with 17 balls and 10 wickets to spare.
SRH finished at 151 without loss in 17.1 overs at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Chasing the target, the SRH duo swiftly took their side to 56 runs before steadily adding another 33 runs in the next four overs. Warner notched up his fourth half-century and Saha his second of the season, in the 12th over.
The MI bowlers struggled to get breakthroughs and ended up remaining wicketless as the SRH openers comfortably steered their side home without enduring any hiccups.
Warner’s 58-ball knock was laced with 10 boundaries and a six while Saha smashed seven fours and a maximum.
Earlier, SRH restricted MI at 149/8 wickets in 20 overs, thanks to some impressive bowling efforts.
While pacer Sandeep Sharma starred after scalping three wickets for 34 runs, speedster Jason Holder and spinner Shahbaz Nadeem stepped up in the crucial match, picking two wickets each while leg-spinner Rashid Khan settled with one.
Asked to bat, MI were reeled at 82/5 wickets in 12.1 overs as their top-order — Quinton de Kock (25), Suryakumar Yadav (36) and Ishan Kishan (33) — failed to convert their good starts.
Keiron Pollard played a 25-ball 41 run cameo down the order as MI limped to a moderate total.
Brief scores: MI 149/8 wkts in 20 overs (Kieron Pollard 41, Suryakumar Yadav 36; Sandeep Sharma 3/34) lost to SRH 151/0 wkt in 17.1 overs (David Warner 85 not out, Wriddhiman Sahah 58 not out; Dhawal Kulkarni 0/22) by 10 wkts
