IPL 2023: Mumbai’s all-round strength too much for Sunrisers

IPL’s best young Indian batting talent Tilak Varma sparkles, Cameron Green shines and Mumbai Indians stave off a late charge from Hyderabad to seal a win
“Who knows what’s a good total. Who knows what we can get in the last five overs.” Mark Boucher, Mumbai Indians coach, would say during the 10th over. Mumbai were 69 for 1 in 9 overs and finished on 192 for 5; certainly a “good total” on a sluggish pitch. As many as 83 runs came in the last six overs as Tilak Varma and Cameron Green went for it.
Hyderabad’s chase was seemingly going nowhere before Heinrich Klassen’s 16-ball 36 and a few big hits from Marco Jansen and Washington Sundar got them close, but it proved a bridge too far. Arjun Tendulkar, who bowled two tidy overs with the new ball, had 20 to defend off the final over of the game, and with his father watching from the dressing room, he nailed his outside-off yorkers, and took his first IPL wicket off the final ball to finish on a high as Mumbai prevailed 14 runs.
Varma sparkles
No batsman had looked comfortable trying to hit on a sluggish pitch where the ball stopped a touch – until the brightest Indian batting talent of the season Tilak Varma entered the scene. Until he exploded, Sunrisers Hyderabad had their bowling plan working nicely: the seamers bowled a lot of cutters that peeled off the surface ever so slowly, and the spinners found some grip and turn. Even Green, who would change colours post the arrival of Varma to affect a stunning turnaround, wasn’t fluent for the first half of his innings. Not his fault, such was the pitch. But Varma was at another level.
In the 15th over, he crash-landed Jansen for a couple of big sixes; both were off-pace deliveries that had worked like a treat for the tall left-arm pacer until then but Varma had no issues with his timing, waiting that fraction of a second before unleashing his downward bat swing. Within 10 balls of his knock, he had had two sixes and a four.
IPL 2023: Tilak Varma of Mumbai Indians plays a shot. (IPL/PTI Photo)
The shot of the game would come in the 16th over, off Mayank Markande, who expertly varies his pace (ranging from 77kmph to 88kmph), gets a lovely loop on his leg-breaks, and camouflages his googlies pretty well. It was a raspish googly on the leg-and-middle line, but Varma sidled outside the line even as he stretched forward to wr it inside-out over cover for an exquisite four. At the innings break, when he faced up to the broadcasters, Kevin Pietersen would say that it was his favourite shot, and the 20-year old would almost blush and say it was his too. Varma would sweep Markande for a six and pick up a Bhuvneshwar Kumar slower ball to hit a maximum, before Kumar did him in with a knuckleball.
Green shines
Promoted to No.3, Green took his time to get used to the slowness of the pitch. At the 9th over mark during the time-out, he was on 15 from 14, and had a long chat with batting coach Kieron Pollard. In the 15th over, he hit Jansen for a couple of fours – the second would have given him confidence that he could kick on. It was a slower one, but he expertly waited for the ball to arrive and timed his pull to perfection. In the first half of his knock, he hadn’t found that ‘waiting’ that easy to pull off. Now that he had got used to the pitch, the big shots started to come.
IPL 2023: Mumbai Indians’ Cameron Green bats during a practice session. (Photo: PTI)
In the 18th over, he plundered T Natarajan for three successive fours and finished it with a six. Natarajan erred in line and length – his yorkers were finishing up as full tosses and when he landed them, they were a tad wide. And Green cashed in to finish on 64 from 40 balls. He would also have a pivotal moment with the ball, when he had Aiden Markram pulling straight to midwicket. With 24 runs needed in two overs, Green, struggling with cramps, conceded just two runs (and two leg es) to seal the deal.
Chawla takes down dangerous Klaasen and Sundar combusts
His first-class debut was way back in 2005, and Piyush Chawla is still chugging along after 18 years. There was a scare on Tuesday when Klaasen whacked him for two fours and two sixes in his fourth over, which threatened to be game-turning, but Chawla spun it around again on the last ball; a wrong’un that came slowly off the track had Klaasen holing out at long-on, and with it, Chawla had taken two for 42.
The equation came down to 50 from the final four overs but with impact player Abdul Samad unable to make an impact, Jansen tried his best, slugging a few boundaries and after his exit, Sundar smashed a couple of boundaries to get the equation to 28 from 14. But he didn’t show the desperation needed when running, first veering off wide and then failing to put in a dive at the non-striker’s end and was run out.