Former Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Sachin Tendulkar lifted the team’s morale after the defeat to SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their IPL 2024 match on Wednesday. SRH and MI put up a run-fest in Hyderabad, amassing 523 runs, the highest-ever aggregate in an IPL match. SRH posted the highest-ever IPL total of 277/3, before MI gave them a tough fight with their 246/5 while chasing. While SRH won the game by 31 runs, Tendulkar said that the match could’ve gone either way, especially with MI in control halfway through their chase.
“In the second half, in spite of scoring 277, 10 overs down the line nobody knew who was a clear winner. The game was very much open. The target was very much achievable. That’s a clear-cut sign that we’ve batted really well. So let’s stick together. Tighter. There are going to be tougher moments. We will stick together as a group and pull it through,” Tendulkar said in a video uploaded by MI.
“Toughest soldiers get the toughest test”
Sachin & Hardik with some inspiring words after #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, adding 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 from 14 balls before Unadkat got him caught to 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 string of dot balls, made the chase a bit tricky for MI.
Tim David smashed an unbeaten 42 in a late charge but the target was beyond reach as Mumbai ended on 246-5 — the team’s highest IPL total.
Cummins was the best of the bowlers with 2-35 in his four overs of pace, leading his side to their first win of the season and said “it was an amazing game”.
On the contrary, MI’s South African import Kwena Maphaka had a bruising introduction to IPL when the 17-year-old left-arm quick went for 66 runs in his four overs.
SRH will now take on GT on Sunday while MI will come up against RR a day later.
(With AFP Inputs)
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