MI vs SRH: Cameron Green’s all-round heroics script Mumbai Indians’ 3rd successive win of IPL 2023

Mumbai Indians stormed to their third successive victory in the 2023 Indian Premier League after defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by 14 runs on Tuesday.

Cameron Green starred with bat and ball to script a clinical win for MI who now have 6 points from 5 matches so far this season.

It was a disappointing night for SRH who looked good with the ball before Cameron Green (64 not out) and Tilak Varma (37 off 17) took MI to a daunting 192 for 5 on a two-paced pitch. Chasing a steep total, the SRH batting line-up was no match for a top-quality MI pace attack.

Jason Behrendorff rocked the SRH chase with the wickets of Harry Brook and Rahul Tripathi in his first two overs. Brook had scored a hundred in SRH’s last match against Kolkata Knight Riders and Tripathi was in brilliant form last summer. Therefore, those two wickets coupled with a controlled opening spell from Arjun Tendulkar (2-0-14-0) created a lot of pressure on the hosts.

The onus was now firmly on Mayank Agarwal and Aiden Markram as the asking rate climbed sharply for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Markram had started the 2023 IPL campaign with a duck but played crucial roles in back-to-back wins for the team against Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders. However, on Tuesday, the SRH captain managed 22 off 17 balls before falling to Cameron Green in his first over. SRH slipped into further trouble moments later when Piyush Chawla removed Abhishek Sharma.

TENDULKAR’S TERRIFIC FINAL OVER!

It was difficult for new batters to come in and find rhythm straightaway and that’s why Mayank Agarwal’s anchor role was as important as Cameron Green’s for Mumbai Indians. With the required rate shooting up sharply for SRH, Heinrich Klaasen played a stunning cameo and hit Piyush Chawla for 4, 6, 6 and 4 before falling to the same bowler. In the next over, Riley Meredith dismissed the well set Agarwal for 48, leaving SRH to get 61 off 31 balls.

Marco Jansen and Washington Sundar scored some quick runs to raise SRH hopes and a close finish was now on the cards with Abdul Samad and Bhuvneshwar Kumar needing to get 24 off the final 2 overs. But MI’s pacers were spectacular on Tuesday and the SRH lower-order had no chance. Arjun Tendulkar closed the match for MI with a superb final over where he defended 19 runs and even picked his maiden IPL wicket.

Mumbai Indians openers Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan started off well after Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Aiden Markram won the toss and decided to bowl on what appeared to be a pitch where batting necessarily wasn’t easy.

Rohit Sharma hit 28 off 18 balls to set the tone for Mumbai Indians and became the fourth batter after Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner to crosss 6000 runs in the Indian Premier League. Rohit’s opening partner Ishan Kishan slowed down after a quick start but he still kept MI on track for a healthy total even as Cameron Green struggled to score as quickly as he would have liked at that stage.

Marco Jansen dented Mumbai Indians with the wickets of Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav in the 12th over and both men were sent back thanks to sharp catches by Aiden Markram whose fielding efforts set the example for the rest of his teammates.

However, MI bat deep and their most exciting young talent Tilak Varma played another scintillating knock, smashing 37 off 17 balls and was involved in a crucial partnership with Cameron Green who dropped anchor to stabilise the innings. The duo broke the shackles with 21 runs off Marco Jansen’s last over. Tilak’s crisp knock was brought to an end by Bhuvneshwar Kumar but Cameron Green unleashed some terrific shots to help Mumbai Indians to a strong total in a bid to win their third successive match of the season.

Cameron Green hit T Natarajan for three successive boundaries in the 18th over to bring up his maiden IPL fifty and celebrated the milestone with a six off the following delivery. That was the kind of finish MI needed after being tied down in the middle overs by the SRH spinners Washington Sundar and Mayank Markande and pacer Marco Jansen until he conceded 2 fours and 2 sixes in the final over of his spell.