SRH opted for the pace duo of Steyn and Boult for the first time in the IPL as Henriques dropped to the bench.It was Steyn who got the breakthrough dismissing Parthiv Patel.U Chand failed again before Lendl Simmons, who survived a number of half chances, and skipper Rohit Sharma were able to bring up 100 in 12.3 overs. But just when MI were looking to break loose, the settled pair were dismissed in quick succession.The rest of the batsmen were unable to hit the big shots as SRH bowlers made a good comeback to restrict MI to 157. Simmons was the top scorer with 51, while Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was the pick of the bowlers with a tidy 3/26.
The SRH openers got off to a flier, but unlike in previous matches, it was Shikar Dhawan who took on the bowling to register a quick fire 42 off 29 balls.But when Warner was dismissed by Malinga, soon followed by Dhawan, MI could sense a big chance at exploiting the weak middle order. L Rahul and Bopara were made to eat up a number of deliveries in the middle overs, as they couldn’t handle the pressure of the chase.Mathew McClaneghan can consider him unlucky that he didn’t pick up the MoM award.He picked up the danger man Dhawan, Rahul and Bopara at crucial junctures in the game. The honour went to Malinga who returned for his final spell, picking up three wickets in an over and four in total. MI however will be pleased that the bowling finally rose up to the occasion to hand them just their second win of the season.
srikantkk 