Mumbai Indians beat Hyderabad to keep their slim hopes alive

Mumbai Indians’ convincing seven-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 7 on Monday kept the defending champions’ playoff hopes alive.

Chasing 158 for victory in Hyderabad, Mumbai achieved the target in 18.4 overs losing only three wickets. Brilliant half-centuries from opener Lendl Simmons (68) and one-drop batsman Ambati Rayudu (68) helped Mumbai Indians chase down the competitive total.

Earlier, a late assault by David Warner (55 not out) after a solid batting show by opener Aaron Finch (68) took Sunrisers Hyderabad to 157 for three.

Electing to bat, Hyderabad were tied down for most part of their innings and it seemed they would fall short of 150 before the last two overs yielded 33 runs to take them to a fighting total on a Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium pitch which appeared to be slow for batsmen to play strokes.

Finch played the role of sheet-anchor as he stayed till the penultimate over of Hyderabad innings, sharing 63 runs for the third wicket with Warner from nine overs. He hit seven boundaries and two sixes in his 62-ball knock.

The in-form Warner was largely instrumental in taking the score past 150 as he smashed two sixes off Lasith Malinga in the penultimate over and two boundaries off the final two balls of the innings bowled by Kieron Pollar as Hyderabad scored 15 and 18 runs of the last two overs.

Warner’s 31-ball unbeaten knock was studded with six boundaries and two sixes.

Opener and captain Shikhar continued his struggle and he could contribute just 11 from as many balls in his side’s first match at home this season. He was out in the last ball of the fifth over with Malinga uprooting his middle stump as he went for a drive outside the line.

One-down Lokesh Rahul was run out in the 10^th over while going for a non-existent single. He made frantic return to the crease after running half-way down the pitch, but not before Chidhambaram Gautam broke the stumps. For Mumbai, Malinga took two wickets for 35 runs off his four overs.