New Delhi: Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians faced off in a nail-biting encounter at the Rajeev Gandhi stadium in Hyderabad with the hosts emerging victorious on the final delivery of the match.
Having won the toss, Sunrises Hyderabad restricted defending champions Mumbai Indians to a paltry 147/8. Fast bowlers Sandeep Sharma and Siddharth Kaul returned with two wickets apiece while Rashid Khan’s brilliant spell took the star-studded Mumbai batting by shock.
Chasing 148, Hyderabad were cruising along at 73 for 1 before an inexplicable batting collapse left them staring at defeat.
Deepak Hooda smashed 32 off 25 balls and take the 2016 champions closer to victory but a brilliant penultimate over from Mustafizur Rehman took the match down the wire.
Sunrisers needed 11 off last 6 and Hooda fired Ben Cutting’s fuller delivery outside the off stump across the boundary line for a maximum which was followed by a wide ball, making the task look easy but a dot of 3rd and two singles on 4th and 5th ball meant the onus was on Bill Stanlake to squeeze Hyderabad to victory. The tall Aussie only had the option of clearing the ropes as Rohit ordered his players to station them inside the circle.
Interestingly, Billy had never hit a boundary in his professional career before. However, he held his nerves to hit the final delivery over the mid-wicket and secure a second victory for Sunrisers in the 11th Edition.