Abu Dhabi: Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav produced terrific half-centuries to power Mumbai Indians to a mammoth 235/9 in Match 55 of IPL 2021 here at Sheikh Zayed Stadium here on Friday. While Kishan batted like a video game panning out in reality, Yadav combined timing and grace for his knock. Mumbai now needs to bowl Hyderabad out for 65 or below to give themselves a chance to qualify for the playoffs.
After electing to bat first, Mumbai were off to a flying start. Ishan Kishan hit four fours in as many balls as Siddarth Kaul while taking 18 runs in the second over. Be it Mohammad Nabi, Jason Holder or Umran Malik, all came in for severe thrashing from Kishan. The youngster's fireworks continued as he raced to his second consecutive half-century in just 16 balls, the fastest fifty of the tournament. The blazing opening partnership of 80 runs was broken by Rashid Khan in the final over of power-play as Sharma top-edged a pull to a tumbling square leg.
After power-play ended at 83/1, Kishan continued with the carnage, hitting a four and six off Malik followed by slog-sweeping Rashid Khan in the next over. Hyderabad enforced a slowdown in the middle overs as Hardik Pandya holed out off Holder in the ninth over. In the next over, Malik put an end to Kishan's astonishing knock, nicking behind to the keeper. Three overs later, Abhishek Sharma claimed wickets on successive deliveries as Kieron Pollard picked out the fielder in between the 'V', followed by James Neesham spooning a catch to cover.
In between, Yadav slammed boundaries at will and with panache despite losing Krunal Pandya and Nathan Coulter-Nile from the other end. Yadav reached his fifty with a loft straight down the ground off Kaul. He went on to slam boundaries against Kaul and Holder followed by a hat-trick of fours off Malik in the 19th over. Holder took out Piyush Chawla and Yadav in the final over to concede just five runs.