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IPL: Malinga, McClenaghan bowl Mumbai Indians to win over Sunrisers

April 25, 2015 20:42 IST

Lasith Malinga of Mumbai Indians celebrates the wicket of Gade Hanuma Vihari of Sunrisers Hyderabad with his teammates. Photograph: BCCI

Lasith Malinga and Mitchell McClenaghan came up with stellar bowling display to help Mumbai Indians defend a modest score and beat Sunrisers
Hyderabad by 20 runs in their Indian Premier League match at the Wankhede stadium.

- Scorecard

Malinga grabbed his season's best four for 23, including three wickets in his last over, while New Zealander Mcclenaghan picked up three for 20 that included top scorer Shikhar Dhawan's scalp, to restrict the Sunrisers to 137 for eight, chasing a target of 158.

The victory, which was only their second of the season in seven games, helped Mumbai stay afloat in their quest to reach the play-offs. This was Sunrisers fourth defeat in six games.

Lendl Simmons of Mumbai Indians raises his bat after scoring a half century. Photograph: BCCI

Earlier, opting to bat first the Mumbai Indians line-up disappointed.

Riding on opener Lendl Simmons's 51 off 42 balls and some useful contributions from skipper Rohit Sharma (24) and West Indian Kieron Pollard (33)
to reach a total of 157 for eight.

Hyderabad kept Mumbai on the back foot throughout taking wickets at regular intervals, not letting any partnership to flourish.

Simmons and Parthiv Patel (17) put on 42 runs for the opening before the West Indies batsman added another 51 runs with his captain to take the score to 100.

However, both the batsmen fell in quick succession, within the space of eight runs, and the hosts lost their way thereafter. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad player Bhuvneshwar Kumar celebrates the wicket Mumbai Indians player Kieron Pollard. Photograph: BCCI

Bhuvneswar Kumar was the most successful bowler for Sunrisers, with figures of three for 26. 

Pace spearhead Dale Steyn took two for 38 while Praveen Kumar had figures of two for 35. 

Karn Sharma picked up the all important wicket of Rohit.

It was a good all-around bowling effort for the visitors, with Trent Boult also keeping things tight, even though he failed to take any wicket.

Shikhar Dhawan of Sunrisers Hyderabad and David Warner of Sunrisers Hyderabad run between the wickets during their Indian Premier League match against Mumbai Indians. Photograph: BCCI

The same couldn't be said about the Sunrisers' batting though. 

The Sunrisers lost their way after a brisk opening stand between left-handers Dhawan, who top-scored with 42 off 29 balls, and David Warner (9), the duo adding 45 in the first five overs. 

Once these two departed within a short span to leave the Sunrisers reeling at 52 for two in six overs, the other batsmen did not prove to be good enough. 

Mitchell McClenaghan of Mumbai Indians celebrates with teammates the wicket of KL Rahul of Sunrisers Hyderabad. Photograph: BCCI

Chasing the target, the visitors set off to a fine start with Dhawan scoring at a fast pace. From the moment he caressed Harbhajan Singh's first ball of the innings to the cover fence, he looked in fine nick. 

The left handed Indian opener later struck Harbhajan for three fours and a six in the bowler's second over to banish he offie from the attack. Warner, watching from the other end, also hit Harbhajan for a four but then holed out to third man off a short ball from Malinga. 

Then Dhawan departed while pulling Mitchell McClenaghan to short mid-wicket. 

Mumbai sensed a whiff of a chance with the visitors at 52 for two at the end of powerplay and applied pressure on new batsmen Lokesh Rahul and Naman Ojha with some tight bowling and sharp fielding.

McClenaghan returned to account for KL Rahul (25) and Ravi Bopara (23), playing a stellar role, before man-of-the-match returned to polish off the tail.