Live Report - MI's bowling tricks on sluggish pitch gets them second straight win

Tilak Varma finishes off with an airy reverse-sweep that just sneaks into the gap between backward point and short third, and that is that. A weird finish, but MI dominated from the start, and they've won with 11 balls to spare. They got the best of the conditions today, you'll have to say, and won an important toss, but their bowlers - Bumrah and Jacks in particular, though the others did their bit too - did a superb job to tie SRH down and set up this victory.

Hardik Pandya plays a terrific little innings to hurry MI towards the win, 21 off just nine balls, but he picks out deep midwicket off a low full-toss from Eshan Malinga, and MI have to wait just a little longer, with one run needed for victory.

Then Naman Dhir plays out two dots before attempting to step across and sweep Malinga fine. The dipping slower ball sneaks below his bat and traps him plumb in front. Jeez. He reviews the decision - why? - and then walks off before the DRS process is complete. Mitchell Santner walks in before the DRS process is complete. But eventually the umpire's decision is upheld, and Santner gets to face the last ball of the over, which is... another dot.

Could there be a late twist here? Classic Cummins wicket: hard-length offcutter hammered into the pitch, and Jacks can't get any power behind this flat-bat slap, hitting it straight to mid-off. He's out for 36 off 26, and MI are 128 for 4 in 14.3 overs. They're still overwhelming favourites, of course, needing 35 off 33.

Looks to hit a hard-length ball down the ground, and that's risky against anyone let alone Pat Cummins, though you'd back Suryakumar to pull it off if you'd back anyone at all. On this occasion, though, he finds elevation but no power, and sends the ball ballooning to mid-off.

He goes for a 26 off 15, after putting on 52 off just 29 balls with Jacks. A partnership that's all but won this for MI, you'd think. They now need 42 in 44 balls.

Three successive overs of legspin, and they're okay for most part, but Ansari's control is a little off - slants one down the leg side and floats two up in the arc - and Rahul Chahar's rustiness shows off his second ball of the season - a drag-down. Suryakumar Yadav and Will Jacks hit two sixes each, and MI are 106 for 2 in 11 overs. At one point, Ansari also employed the towel to wipe dew off the ball. Not much going SRH's way.

It's Harshal Patel who ends Rickelton's charmed innings, getting him to reach for a wide-line slower ball and slice a loopy catch to backward point. SRH are 69 for 2 in 7.5 overs.

An interesting Impact substitution. Rahul Chahar is a good choice to bring on on this pitch, but you'd think SRH would sub off one of their batters. Instead, it's Mohammed Shami, who still has one over of his four remaining. Has he sustained some sort of niggle? No idea just yet.

The ball continues to grip and lose pace off this pitch. Zeeshan Ansari bowls three straight dots to Rickelton in the seventh over, with the left-hander going hard at the leggie and struggling to hold his shape. Then he looks to slap a short, wide one away, and is caught by Pat Cummins at cover, but... but... but... it's a no-ball.

And it's an unusual kind of no-ball. The bowler hasn't overstepped or stepped on the return crease or done anything wrong, really. The fielder's catch is clean. But wicketkeeper Klaasen's gloves happened to get ahead of the stumps before the batter hit it - which they aren't supposed to. Tough, tough luck for SRH, but Klaasen is an experienced keeper and he'll know he's made an avoidable error.

This is the relevant Law of the game:

He was struggling to, initially, and was on 8 off 10 balls, but now Eshan Malinga bowls him three relatively hittable balls in the sixth over - a slower half-volley, a short ball and a full-toss - and he puts all three away to the boundary. There's a ball change later in the over too, with the first one having gone out of shape, and MI end the powerplay at 55 for 1. Our Forecaster gives them an 82.11 chance of victory.

The injury to Karn Sharma didn't force MI to bring on a bowler as their Impact Player, which means Rohit Sharma opened their batting as usual. And he's just been dismissed for 26 off 16 balls, which could yet prove a crucial innings.

It's certainly just the start MI needed. A bit of early luck - a few swings-and-misses against Mohammed Shami and Pat Cummins, and his first boundary was a six off the edge that hits the boundary cushion at deep third - but he middled them thereafter, pulling Shami and then Cummins for a pair of big sixes off his hip.

Then he goes after a full-toss from Cummins and drives it straight to cover point at waist height.

MI are 32 for 1 in four overs. The broadcast has already shown us spots of dew in the outfield.

Mumbai Indians won what could yet be an important toss – given the chance of dew – and restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to 162 for 5 on an unusually sluggish surface at the Wankhede Stadium. MI’s bowlers used changes of pace and used the yorker frequently throughout the innings to keep SRH quiet despite an opening stand of 59 between Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head, and it was only thanks to a pair of 21-run overs at the death that SRH got past 160.

Five sixes came in those two overs – the 18th and 20th, bowled by Deepak Chahar and Hardik Pandya respectively – and those were the only sixes in SRH’s innings. There was some impressive hitting involved, particularly from Heinrich Klaasen and Aniket Verma, but it was instructive that three of the sixes came off full-tosses.

There were seven full-tosses in all over the last three overs, and that could yet be a sign of dew setting in, which could potentially make batting easier for the chasing team.

One of those full-tosses produced a wicket, bowling Klaasen as he tried to manufacture room, and it was unsurprisingly delivered by the man with the most challenging full-toss in the game, Jasprit Bumrah. MI’s talisman set the tone for them with 1 for 21 in his four overs, two of which came in the powerplay.

Their most successful bowler on the day, though, was Will Jacks, who picked up a remarkable 2 for 14 in three overs. The offspinner, used immediately after the powerplay to match up against SRH’s left-handed top three, found plenty of grip and took the wickets of Ishan Kishan and Head.

Jacks not only bossed his match-up but also gave MI breathing room after they lost their legspinner Karn Sharma to an injury in the third over of the match. Karn, the Player of the Match in their last game against Delhi Capitals, went off the field with what seemed to be a split webbing after diving forward at midwicket to try and catch a ball that fell just short of him. With Jacks able to fill in for three overs, MI did not need to replace Karn with a bowler, which left them with the option of bringing on Rohit Sharma as their Impact Player at the start of their chase. Jacks’ overs also allowed MI to use Mitchell Santner’s left-arm spin for only one over against a team with an unusual number of left-hand batters.

That near-chance was the second time in three overs that a ball had not carried to Karn at midwicket. SRH’s top order had endured rough luck in their recent run of four straight defeats, and that luck changed when Abhishek’s scintillating hundred powered them to a successful chase of 246 in their last match against Punjab Kings. Luck continued to go SRH’s way at the start of this game, with Jacks dropping an edge off Abhishek off the first ball of the match, and Head later being caught off a no-ball.

But the luck didn’t seem to help SRH’s scoring rate. When he was caught off that no-ball from Hardik in the 10th over, he was batting on 24 off 24 balls. He fell soon after for 28 off 29. Abhishek was a little more fluent, hitting seven fours in a 28-ball 40.

Hardik broke the opening stand in the eighth over, getting Abhishek caught on the point boundary, right after enduring a major injury scare. He had seemed to hurt either his left shin or ankle in his follow-through after delivering the previous ball, and seemed to indicate to the MI dugout that he needed a substitute, but as it happened, he managed to dust himself off and continue bowling.

Aniket Verma has been one of the uncapped finds of the season, and he continues to impress now, finding a way to generate enough power against a Hardik slower ball to flat-bat him over the covers for six, and following up with a whip behind square off a low full-toss for another six next ball. And then Pat Cummins finishes the innings with another leg-side six off another full-toss, and SRH finish on 162 for 5. Not at all a bad total on this pitch, you would think. Are these full-tosses a sign of dew setting in, though? We will see very soon.

It's always a hard ball to hit, because of the incredible backspin Bumrah generates, which causes the ball to defy gravity momentarily and hit the bat higher and harder than the batter expects.

This one just clatters into the stumps after Klaasen looks to make room to hit him through the off side. SRH are 136 for 5 in 18.1 overs.

There were no sixes in the first 17 overs of this innings, but Klaasen has hit two in the 18th, off Deepak Chahar. The first one was worth waiting for. A half-volley angled across Klaasen from round the wicket, and he hits it flat over extra-cover with lovely loose wrists and gorgeous timing. SRH score 21 off the over. How vital will those runs be?

He goes for 19 off 21, looks to helicopter a blockhole ball from Boult down the ground, but, as has been happening over and over today, no one's able to generate any power down the ground. Straight to the fielder at long-on, and SRH are 114 for 4 in 16.4 overs.

No sixes at all in this innings so far, and only four fours since the start of the seventh over. All four have come behind the wicket, which suggests how difficult it has been for batters to manufacture any power down the ground.

SRH are 105 for 3 in 15 overs, and Nitish Reddy and Heinrich Klaasen have put on 23 off 23 balls. I don't know what target they have in mind, but MI could be in for a tricky chase if conditions stay like this. It's a bit of an if at the moment, because we don't know if dew will be a factor.

Travis Head is out for 28 off 29 balls. In the year 2025. Shows just how much he struggled to get to grips with MI's bowling on this unusually slow Wankhede surface. Will Jacks gets a third over in a row, and Head looks to go after him, picking a ball that wasn't quite full enough to try and launch down the ground. There's enough turn on this pitch to make that kind of shot very hard to pull off, and he only manages to slice it straight down long-off's throat.

SRH are 82 for 2 in 11.1 overs.

This happened to Abhishek Sharma in SRH's previous game. It's happened to Travis Head now. He's struggling on 24 off 24, but this could be just the lease of life he needs.

It's a slow pitch, and Hardik bowls another into-the-pitch cutter. Head tries to swat it away but can't manufacture the power to clear the man at deep square leg. But just as he's walking off, punching his bat in frustration, the no-ball siren goes off.

Just to rub it in a bit more, he's caught at long-on off the next ball but it's a free-hit.

This Wankhede pitch seems to be a grippier one than usual, and who knows, it might be a made-to-order one for MI's opponents. It's reacted nicely to MI's into-the-pitch slower balls, and now it's helping Will Jacks bowl what could be an influential spell.

MI brought on the offspinner immediately after the powerplay, and he's into his second over now, with SRH's top three entirely left-handed. And he strikes in his second over, with Ishan Kishan jumping out of his crease but not able to get to the pitch of the ball, and Jacks able to turn the square-seam offbreak appreciably to beat his desperate hack and have him stumped.

SRH are 68 for 2 in 8.4 overs.

Misfortune upon misfortune for MI today. We don't know what the Karn situation is just yet. And one more player could have gone off the field here.

It's Hardik Pandya, who pulls up with what seems like a left ankle or shin issue after bowling the second legal ball of the eighth over. It's a full-toss that Abhishek carves for four behind backward point to take SRH to 59 for no loss.

Hardik goes down in pain, and he seems to signal to his dugout for a substitution, but as it happens, the physio comes on, attends to him, and he gets up and goes back to his mark to continue his over.

And he strikes immediately, with a back-of-a-length ball angling away from Abhishek as he tries to manufacture room. Slashes it in the air and is caught on the point boundary for 40 off 28. SRH are 59 for 1.

Travishek are still together, and they've enjoyed the rub of the green so far, but they've gone at less than eight an over in the powerplay. That's quite an achievement for a bowling team, even if MI would have liked to have dismissed at least one of the two SRH openers.

MI's tactics have been excellent. The red-soil pitch at the Wankhede isn't usually one for slower balls, but MI have used it liberally - Jasprit Bumrah, who's bowled two overs in the first six, has used it especially frequently - and they've also slipped in the yorker far more often than you normally see during the powerplay.

Interviewed on the broadcast, Kieron Pollard, MI's batting coach, suggested that the slower-ball strategy was specific to Travishek. He called them “one-dimensional, hard-hands sort of batsmen”, and that's perfectly accurate if you read it as a description rather than a judgment. He also called them "class batsmen", for what it's worth.

At this stage, you'd say MI are controlling things very nicely, but if you're an SRH fan, your team still has 10 wickets in hand. And we're yet to know the full extent of Karn Sharma's injury, and whether he'll be able to bowl. And if he can't, will that impact MI's Impact Player strategy? Will that mean Rohit Sharma won't get to play today? Lots of unanswered questions at this point.

All of SRH's top three had gone through patches of rough form going into their last match against PBKS, and control data - as you can read here - suggested that luck may have been a significant factor behind those low scores, with Abhishek Sharma (three dismissals off seven false shots, plus a run-out at the non-striker's end) and Ishan Kishan (four dismissals off eight false shots) particularly unfortunate.

Luck certainly seemed to turn for SRH in that match against PBKS, with Abhishek in particular enjoying a lot of it (including getting caught off a no-ball) while scoring a scintillating, match-winning hundred.

They're already enjoying a bit of luck in this match against MI. Deepak Chahar found Abhishek's edge first ball with an outswinger to the left-hander, only for the overhead chance to burst through Will Jacks' hands at slip. Then, three balls later, Travis Head flicked one uppishly in the direction of midwicket, but the ball dropped just short of the diving Karn Sharma.

Update: Three overs in, SRH are 22 for no loss. There have been plays and misses from both openers (the extra bounce is really causing the short-of-length ball to climb) and another ball has fallen just short of Karn at midwicket, this time off an awkward, miscontrolled whip from Abhishek, again off Chahar. On this occasion, Karn went off the field with what looked like a split webbing in one of his hands.

Mumbai Indians chose to bowl in their IPL 2025 home game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, with the possibility of dew setting in later in the evening prompting their captain Hardik Pandya to take that decision.

This was the 13th straight IPL game at the Wankhede Stadium where the captain winning the toss had chosen to bowl. The results in the last 12 games, however, have been even: six wins and six losses for the chasing team.

With MI bowling first, Rohit Sharma dropped onto the subs bench, and will likely come on as their Impact Player when they bat.

SRH, meanwhile, named a bowler-heavy line-up even though they were batting first, with captain Pat Cummins slated to bat at No. 7. They do, however, have the option of either Abhinav Manohar or Sachin Baby replacing a dismissed top-order batter during the first innings itself, should the need arise to arrest a collapse.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan, 4 Nitish Reddy, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 Aniket Verma, 7 Pat Cummins (capt), 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Zeeshan Ansari, 11 Eshan Malinga.

Subs bench: Abhinav Manohar, Sachin Baby, Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Chahar, Wiaan Mulder.

Mumbai Indians: 1 Ryan Rickelton (wk), 2 Will Jacks, 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Hardik Pandya (capt), 6 Naman Dhir, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Deepak Chahar, 9 Karn Sharma, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.

Subs bench: Rohit Sharma, Corbin Bosch, Ashwani Kumar, Raj Bawa, Robin Minz.