Match 43: SRH v/s MI - Quick Flicks

Sunrisers Hyderabad have been among the consistent performers in this year’s IPL. They have maintained a good track record at their home ground and have beaten some of the more experienced teams (so to speak). Today’s game against the Mumbai Indians was no exception, and a fine bowling performance set it up nicely for the batsmen to finish the job. Here are some of the snapshots from today’s game:

Misfiring Sachin

Age is clearly showing its effects on The Master. He has been barely among the runs in this season, thus jeopardizing MI’s hopes of getting a good start at the top. I guess celebrating his 40th birthday once too many times has slowed down his reflexes considerably. No more captaincy woes, and yet the great man seems to misfire in every single game. If he arrests this slide soon, MI can dream of finally laying their hands on the coveted trophy.

Sharma c Sharma b Sharma

In yet another humorous instance, there were three Sharmas on the field – Rohit, Ishant and Karan. SRH supporters might have hoped the scorecard would read: R Sharma c K Sharma b I Sharma, but it wasn’t meant to be. While Karan & Ishant bowled extremely well, Rohit struggled – perhaps the burden of captaincy is already putting a lot of strain on him. And in the end, Mumbai ‘Hyderabad se ‘Sharma’ gayi!

Ishant the Destroyer

Ishant Sharma seems to have re-discovered his form of old. Bowling at good speeds and hitting the deck hard, the lanky Delhi pacer prised out Sachin and Dinesh Karthik in the same over, and kept the run flow in check. I’d like to see him in the Indian T20 squad or ODI side soon. After all, it isn’t every day that a young seamer bowls a maiden or dismisses Sachin cheaply, right? It was largely due to his efforts that the formidable Mumbai lineup managed a lowly 129/4.

Dhawan’s Dhamaka

India’s very own Vikram Rathore (not to be confused with the former India cricketer of the same name) anchored the chase successfully in the latter half of the innings. His unbeaten 73 off 55 balls was the single reason why SRH did not falter during the second half, despite losing 3 wickets. Not only did this knock give him confidence, but also gave him another reason to twirl that moustache of his!

Personal Verdict: BORING!

You normally expect a humdinger every time a T20 match is played. But this one turned out to be both low-scoring and highly boring. Mumbai’s batting performance was about as interesting as watching paint dry. Even snails move faster than the rate at which the Men in Blue were scoring runs. In a strange way, their batting reminded me of the RCB lineup from IPL 2008 – big on star value but zero in performance. Not a great day in the office for the RIL-owned squad!