Former Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Sachin Tendulkar boosted the team’s morale after the defeat against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their IPL 2024 match on Wednesday. SRH and MI staged a runfest in Hyderabad, amassing 523 runs, the highest ever total in an IPL match. SRH posted their highest ever IPL total of 277/3, before MI gave them a tough fight during the chase with their 246/5. While SRH won the match by 31 runs, Tendulkar said the match could have gone either way, especially if MI were in control midway through their chase.
“In the second half, despite scoring 277, ten overs away, no one knew who was the clear winner. The game was very open. The target was very achievable. That is a clear sign that we have batted. Very well. So let’s stick together. Tighter. There will be tougher moments. We will stick together as a group and get through it,” Tendulkar said in a video uploaded by MI.
‘The toughest soldiers get the toughest test’
Sachin & Hardik with some inspiring words afterwards #SRHvMI #MumbaiMeriJaan #MumbaiIndians pic.twitter.com/yTkPCcuXQB
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) March 28, 2024
Openers Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan gave the visitors a dream start in the chase, with 56 runs in 3.1 overs. However, MI lost both of them in the space of 10 runs.
Naman Dhir impressed with another cameo of 30 off 14 balls before Unadkat caught him off SRH skipper Pat Cummins.
Tilak Varma (64 off 34) teed off from there to keep MI afloat, but his dismissal in the 15th over, followed by a series of dot balls, made the chase a bit tough for MI.
Tim David scored an unbeaten 42 in a late charge but the target was out of reach as Mumbai finished on 246-5 – the team’s highest IPL total.
Cummins was the best of the bowlers with 2-35 in his four overs, leading his side to their first win of the season and saying “it was a great match”.
On the contrary, MI’s South African import Kwena Maphaka had a painful introduction to IPL as the 17-year-old left-armer quickly made 66 runs in his four overs.
SRH will now take on GT on Sunday, while MI will take on RR a day later.
(With AFP inputs)
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