Mumbai Indians secured qualification to the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs after beating Sunrisers Hyderabad in the one-over eliminator at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday. Quinton de Kock was yet again our top-scorer with an unbeaten 69 and Krunal Pandya was the pick of our bowlers with figures of 2 for 22.

Chasing 163 to win, Hyderabad’s openers Wriddhiman Saha and Martin Guptill began in confident fashion. They added 40 in the opening four overs before Jasprit Bumrah got the breakthrough and sent Saha back to the hut.

The runs kept coming for SRH through new batsman Manish Pandey, but Bumrah was relentless and ensured Guptill’s time in the middle came to a premature end by trapping him in front of the stumps. Sunrisers’ skipper Kane Williamson walked in next, but Krunal ensured his stay in the crease was short courtesy of a successful review for LBW.

Pandey and Vijay Shankar then added 33 together. However, Shankar fell prey to Krunal as MI broke the partnership to reduce SRH to 98 for 4. Hardik Pandya also got amongst the wickets in the following over as Abhishek Sharma edged one to the wicketkeeper.

Mohammad Nabi was next to join Pandey, who was anchoring SRH’s chase. MI’s bowlers executed their plans for the death overs excellently and contained Hyderabad’s batsmen to ensure they’d require 29 from the last two overs for a win.

The penultimate over of the game saw SRH score 12 to make it 17 from the last over of the game. With the game of a knife-edge, Hardik was entrusted to bowl the final over. Nabi then went on to hit a six to put everyone on the edge of their seats. However, Hardik responded by dismissing Nabi and turning to tide in our favour. Pandey though had played brilliantly for SRH and was still at the crease. In the end, his presence proved to be crucial as he hit a six off the last ball to take the contest into a super over.

The first ball of the super over saw Pandey being run-out by Krunal. Nabi did manage to hit a six for SRH, but they could manage just 8 as Bumrah bowled the Afghani all-rounder to ensure we had to get just 9. Rashid Khan bowled the super over for SRH, but it didn’t trouble us much as Hardik and Pollard took just three balls to reach the target and seal our playoff qualification. 

Earlier, skipper Rohit Sharma had given us a decent start before departing in the sixth over having made 24 in quick time. Suryakumar Yadav walked out to bat next and played some delightful strokes to keep the scoreboard ticking, while de Kock began to look comfortable after spending time at the crease.

The duo put on a 54-run partnership before Khaleel Ahmed dismissed Suryakumar in the 12th over for his second wicket of the night. Evin Lewis walked in to bat at four, but the Trinidadian fell in the subsequent over while attempting to hit a maximum. With the score reading 91 for 3 in the 13 over, MI decided to send Hardik in.

The in-form all-rounder looked to dominate the bowlers and smashed a four and a six before mistiming a bouncer from Bhuvneshwar Kumar. With just four overs left in the innings, Kieron Pollard joined de Kock for the slog overs.

The pair of them tried to attack SRH’s bowlers at the death, but Khaleel kept his cool and picked up Pollard’s wicket with a well-disguised slower ball in the final over. Pollard was replaced by Krunal, who smashed a six and made nine off three balls to help us set a target of 163.

Brief score: Match Tied. Mumbai Indians 162 for 5 in 20 overs (de Kock 69*; Khaleel 3/42); Sunrisers Hyderabad 162 for 6 in 20 overs (Pandey 71*; Krunal 2/25). Mumbai Indians win super over.

Man of the Match: Jasprit Bumrah

Our last league match will be against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede on Sunday.