Mumbai Indians all-rounder Hardik Pandya produced a lighting-fast throw to catch David Warner short of his crease against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. With this runout, Mumbai have managed to pull the brakes as Hyderabad cruised through in the run chase.
Back to their best opening combination – David Warner and Jonny Bairstow, Sunrisers Hyderabad got off to a flying start in pursuit of 151 runs. The right hand-left hand combination added 67 runs for the first wicket in just 7.2 overs to set the platform. Bairstow, who was aggressive of the two, was unlucky to get out hit-wicket for 43 runs off just 22 deliveries including three fours and four towering sixes.
The dismissal led to a series of wickets. Manish Pandey, who received a lot of criticisms for his sluggish nature of batting, tried to break the shackles from the first. And in doing so, he holed out to long-off before a brilliant throw from Hardik Pandya ended skipper David Warner’s (36) stay in the middle.
Hardik Pandya hits the bullseye
Hardik Pandya had missed one earlier to let David Warner off but not this time. Virat Singh, who is making his IPL debut, dabbed this slower ball towards the point region and it was Warner’s call for the single. It was quite risky and Hardik Pandya swoops in before firing a direct hit at the striker’s end. The Hyderabad skipper is way short and he started his walk back to the dugout as soon as the direct hit was made.
Watch the video here:
— Cricsphere (@Cricsphere) April 17, 2021
Earlier in the day, Rohit Sharma was off in some style, making the most of good batting conditions, with the ball still fairly new. But Vijay Shankar pulled things back a bit, then the spinners came to the fore as Mumbai Indians stalled in the middle overs. It suddenly looked like a difficult pitch to bat as Quinton de Kock and Ishan Kishan struggled. So did Kieron Pollard until that last two balls to post 150 runs, which has given his team some breathing space.
