Mumbai Indians players celebrate the wicket of Priyam Garg of Sunrisers Hyderabad during their match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah, on Sunday. Courtesy: Twitter

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

Trent Boult returned with a figure of 2-28 after opener Quinton De Kock scored a brilliant 39-ball 67 as Mumbai Indians (MI) continued their relentless march with a 34-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Sharjah on Sunday.

After posting a huge total of 208, Mumbai restricted Hyderabad to 174/7 for their second win on the trot. They have six points from five games so far and are one of the most serious title contenders.

Chasing a huge target, openers David Warner and Jonny Bairstow gave Hyderabad a decent start, adding 34 runs in four overs.  

Bairstow set the tempo for SRH in the chase, hitting Boult for a six and following it up with two fours in the second over bowled by James Pattinson.

Mumbai introduced spin early in their defence of 208. Bairstow cracked one more six in the third over bowled by Krunal. Boult removed Bairstow to break the dangerous-looking partnership. After his departure

Manish Pandey and Warner shared a 60-run stand for the second wicket to keep the battle alive. He announced his arrival at the batting crease in style, hitting two fours in the space of 5 balls before Warner joined the four-hitting party in the final over of the powerplay, hitting two fours off Jasprit Bumrah. Manish then added one more four to his tally to take SRH to 55/1. The Warner-Manish pair then took on Rahul Chahar in the ninth over, hitting a six each to complete a 50-run partnership in under 30 balls. But Pattinson struck in the 10th over to get Manish out for 30.

Warner then pushed SRH past 100, hitting a six and a four off Krunal in the 11th over. The SRH skipper brought up his first half-century of the season, taking the score to 115/2.

MI brought back Boult into the attack and the move paid dividends as the left-arm pacer dismissed Williamson with a slower delivery for three in the 13th over. By the end of the 15th over, SRH were 139/4 and needed 70 off the last five overs. Pattinson then landed a big blow as he got Warner out for 60 after Ishan Kishan held on to a stunning diving catch at the short third-man.

After that, the Hyderabad batsmen failed to get the partnerships going and kept on losing the wickets at regular intervals to fold the innings on 174/7.

Earlier, Mumbai got off to a stuttering start as Rohit Sharma edged a Sandeep Sharma delivery to the wicket-keeper with just six runs on the board.

Suryakumar Yadav, who joined de Kock in the middle after the captain’s dismissal, hit three boundaries to take the pressure off. De Kock changed gears in the third over, hitting Siddarth Kaul for a four. The bowler bounced back to get rid of Yadav in the sixth over, completing his 50 IPL wickets.

De Kock got two reprieves in the space of two overs. He was dropped by Pandey in the seventh before a Rashid Khan-delivery missed his stump by a whisker in the next over.

De Kock added 78 runs for the third wicket with Ishan Kishan, who played a wonderful innings against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their earlier match to take the game into the Super Over.

The MI wicketkeeper then went after Samad in the ninth over, hitting a six and a four, to take the score to 80.  Rashid, who was brought back into the attack in the 13th over, held on to a fine catch, while running towards mid-wicket, on his own bowling to end the 78-run partnership, dismissing de Kock for 64.