Klaasen’s knock of 71 helps Sunrisers reach a respectable 144

At one point, Sunrisers were 35 for five in 8.3 overs, but Heinrich Klaasen's brilliant knock of 71 helps Hyderabad fight back

HYDERABAD: Heinrich Klaasen batted in a different league, scoring a brilliant half-century (71, 44b, 9×4, 2×6) to help Sunrisers Hyderabad, put in to bat, set a modest victory target of 144 for Mumbai Indians in the IPL league match at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Wednesday.

At 35 for five in 8.3 overs, Sunrisers were staring at the barrel, but the classy Klaasen came up with his trademark pull strokes in style. He hit the first ball from left-arm spinner Vignesh Puthur in the 10th over for a six and picked up two more fours to bring cheers to the dispirited home team camp.

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A crucial stand of 99 runs for the sixth wicket of 63 balls between Klaasen and ‘Impact Player’ Abhinav Manohar (43, 37b, 2×4, 3×6), who turned out to be the surprise batting hero, helped Sunrisers’ cause.

Abhinav hit two huge sixes – one each off Hardik and Boult.

Sunrisers, put in to bat, was off to a dismal start losing Travis Head for a four-ball duck to left-arm pacer Trent Boult, going for a big heave only to give a leading edge to the fielder in the deep, and southpaw Ishan Kishan (1), glancing pacer Deepak Chahar to wicketkeeper Ryan Rickleton. Initially, the umpire signalled a wide, but on seeing the batter walking away, changed his decision to give him out ( 9/2 in 2.1 overs).

Soon, Abhishek Sharma (8). who whipped Trent Boult for a superb six over mid-wicket, drove away from the body a slower one on off-stump off the same bowler in his next over straight to the fielder to push Sunrisers further deep in trouble (13/3 in 3.4 overs).

Nitish Kumar Reddy (2) failed again this season with a tame dismissal, hitting a length ball from Chahar straight to mid-on (13/4 in 4.2 overs).

The home team recorded the second-worst power-play (earlier 14/3 in six overs in 2022 against Rajasthan Royals), scoring 24 for four in six overs with Chahar, who completed an impressive spell (4-0-12-2) in one go.

Then, it was the turn of Mumbai captain and pacer Hardik Pandya to ‘bounce’ out Aniket Verma (12) to top-edge an attempted hook of a short ball to make it a miserable 35 for five in 8.3 overs.

Boult finished with an impressive four-wicket haul.