To play Chennai Super Kings in Qualifier 1 on May 19th

Bowlers rose to the occasion when it mattered the most, to help Mumbai Indians register a comfortable nine wicket victory with six overs to spare, against Sunrisers Hyderabad and confirm a berth in the Pepsi Indian Premier League play-offs for the sixth consecutive year.

The last league game of the 2015 season was a virtual quarter-final with the team winning the encounter, assuring a spot in the knock-out stage. However, the washout in the earlier game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils meant that Mumbai Indians had a chance of finishing in the top two, and thereby earning a spot in Qualifier 1 against Chennai Super Kings, to be played in Mumbai on May 19th.

To achieve that goal, the 2013 champions needed to register their seventh win in eight outings, and it was important for the visitors to begin positively after Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner won the toss and elected to bat.

Knowing the importance of making early inroads against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma handed the new ball to Lasith Malinga and the Sri Lankan paceman set the ball rolling, in his very first over.

The 31-year-old disturbed the woodwork of Shikhar Dhawan with his trademark Yorker on the last ball of the first over, and when Mitchell McClenaghan foxed Warner with a rising delivery on the very next ball, the 2013 champions were firm favourites to register their seventh win in eight matches.

That sequence had started against the same opposition at the Wankhede Stadium where Malinga and McClenaghan had combined to claim seven wickets in a late burst to set up a 20 run victory.

The two new ball bowlers, once again laid the foundation of victory at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad, this time striking early.

McClenaghan (3/16) soon packed off Englishman Eoin Morgan to reduce Sunrisers Hyderabad to 23/3 and the back up bowlers R Vinay Kumar and J Suchith ensured that there was no let-off in intensity.

While Vinay maintained a tight line and length to stifle the batsmen, Suchith tightened the noose around Sunrisers Hyderabad when he flummoxed the in-form Moises Henriques, and then forced Naman Ojha, to hole out to Sharma at covers, to send half the Sunrisers team back into the hut with just 51 runs on board.

Karn Sharma and Ashish Reddy did try to stitch a partnership for the hosts but all the Mumbai Indians’ bowlers were on the money, whenever called into action by their skipper.

The visitors continued to take wickets at a regular interval and bowl the hosts out for just 113 runs – only the third time it happened with a team batting first in this IPL season.

In reply, Mumbai Indians hardly broke sweat with openers Parthiv Patel (51 not out) and Lendl Simmons (48) keeping their cool to ensure that there were no hiccups.

They milked the bowlers to all sides of the park and Simmons then stepped on the accelerator in the 12th over when he clubbed Karn Sharma for two sixes over mid-wicket to take the team within sniffing distance of a well-deserved victory.

Simmons fell two runs short of his half-century but, Rohit Sharma hit a six of the very first ball he faced, and Patel completed the formalities two balls later.