Twenty-two-year-old West Indian bowler Alzarri Joseph recorded the best bowling figures in IPL history as the Mumbai Indians secured a 40-run victory against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in a low-scoring affair in Hyderabad.
After being put in to bat, Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma put on 21 before the latter was caught in the deep off Mohammad Nabi. Suryakumar Yadav followed soon after as the visitors fell to 28-2.
For so much of the innings, it seemed as if Mumbai would not post a competitive score. They were 65-5 after 12.5 overs with four of their top five batsmen having failed to score at a run-a-ball.
In stepped Keiron Pollard. The West Indian eased himself into his innings, scoring nine off his first 13 balls, before exploding in the final two overs. He ended up with 46 off 26 as Mumbai finished on 136-7 in their 20 overs.
The Sunrisers began their pursuit of the modest target in great fashion as David Warner and Jonny Bairstow raced to 33 in just 3.3 overs.
Within four balls, both openers had lost their wickets as Mumbai started to believe they could cause an upset.
Joseph, who was only playing in Lasith Malinga’s absence, claimed two wickets off his first two overs, bowling David Warner off an inside edge with his first ever IPL ball, before having Vijay Shankar caught at point off a top edge soon after the powerplay ended.
Joseph’s next two wickets, off successive deliveries in the 16th over, swung the game in Mumbai’s favour. He bowled Deepak Hooda, and the following ball had Rashid Khan walking back, after taking a catch off his own bowling.
His final two wickets wrapped up the innings and saw him finish with figures of 6-12 off 3.4 overs.
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