Sunrisers Hyderabad 249 for 4 (Head 76, Klaasen 65*, Abhishek 45, Ghazanfar 2-51) beat Mumbai Indians 243 for 5 (Rickelton 123*, Jacks 46, Hinge 2-54) by six wickets
MI’s power-packed powerplay
Just eight games into the season, MI were already into the fourth opening partnership, this time with Will Jacks and Rickelton. Their powerplay run-rate of 8.55 coming into this game was the fourth-worst of the season. But it was fourth-time lucky for MI.
The two immediately found the pace of the surface, matching each other shot for shot. Jacks ended the first six overs on 38 off 18 with five fours and two sixes; Rickelton ended with 37 off 18 with three fours and three sixes. MI amassed 78 in the powerplay, their second-highest score this season in this phase.
Royal Rickel-ton
MI raced to 93 in just seven overs but Nitish Kumar Reddy struck a timely blow, getting Jacks to edge a fuller ball to the wicketkeeper. Suryakumar Yadav’s rotten season continued as he top-edged an Eshan Malinga bouncer to deep-backward square leg but Rickelton wasn’t relenting. He began his IPL 2026 with an 81 against Kolkata Knight Riders, but three single-digit scores in the next four games and Quinton de Kock’s surge in form forced him to spend time on the sidelines. But with de Kock injured, Rickelton was back and how.
When Reddy dismissed Jacks, Rickelton struck him for a four and six in the same over to reach a 23-ball half-century, his quickest in the IPL. Pat Cummins and Sakib Hussain were both picked for boundaries before Harsh Dubey was thumped for back-to-back sixes. Rickelton raced through the nineties by thumping Reddy for a four and six in the 15th over and then reached a maiden IPL ton in 44 balls, the quickest by a MI batter ever. He struck at 300 against Reddy [24 off eight], 314.28 against Dubey [22 off seven] and 270 against Hinge [27 off ten]. At the other end, Hardik Pandya also found form, as MI raced to 202 for 3 after 16.
But SRH made a fine comeback in the death overs, led by Malinga, who finished with 1 for 29, an economy of just 7.25. Cummins also bowled a boundary-less 17th over but Rickelton ended the innings on a high with a six and four. Despite that MI added just 41 in the last four overs.
Travishek unleashed
When the second innings began, the win probability was 77.60% in MI’s favour; by the end of the powerplay it had ticked to 58% in SRH’s favour. It was ruthless hitting from Head and Abhishek, who spared no one, not even Jasprit Bumrah. Head rode his luck. No one appealed when he edged Boult to the keeper in the third over. He was dropped twice, too.
In between he smacked the MI bowlers around. Abhishek smoked Boult for a six over extra cover second ball, before taking Bumrah downtown. Head thrashed Boult for three sixes and the duo then took 19 off a Will Jacks over. By the time the powerplay was done, Bumrah had gone for 28 off his first two overs, Boult 29 off two and SRH were going at 15.33 an over. The dew had now taken full effect and MI had little answers.
MI strike back
Head raced to his fifty off 20 balls, but Ghazanfar struck to give MI hope. He first had Abhishek miscue to backward point, and then had the in-form Ishan Kishan chop back on first ball. And when Hardik had Head mistiming to extra cover, SRH had lost three wickets in two overs to go from 129 for 0 to 133 for 3.
Klaasen = Consistency
With the required rate 11 an over, Klaasen broke free. He first took on Ghazanfar, thrashing him for a four and six, peppering the deep-midwicket fence. Then he crashed four fours in an Ashwani Kumar over to bring the required rate to 9.50 an over. He didn’t spare Bumrah either, sending him over extra cover for a sumptuous six and soon raised a 22-ball fifty by doing the same to Ghazanfar two overs later.
Ashish Pant is a sub-editor with ESPNcricinfo
