Sharjah: Captain David Warner led from the front as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) not only handed Mumbai Indians (MI) a reality check as they outclassed the reigning champions by 10 wickets in the last league match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday, but also enter play-offs.
SRH, thus, became the fourth and final team to advance to the play-offs, after MI, Delhi Capitals (DC), and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
The SRH win shattered the hopes of the fifth-placed Kolkata Knight Riders to advance to play-offs. KKR finished with 14 points, the same as SRH and RCB, but lost out on net run rate (-0.214).
After the outcome of Tuesday's contest, MI finished the round-robin stage at the first spot with 18 points and is flowed by DC (16 points), SRH (14, net run rate +0.608) and RCB (14, -0.172).
Kings XI Punjab, Chennai Super Kings, and Rajasthan Royals finished sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively on net run rate, as they had 12 points each.
In a must-win game, SRH first rode a stunning performance by their bowlers who restricted the mighty Mumbai to a modest 149/8 and later rode master classes by Warner (85 not out off 58 balls) and Wriddhiman Saha (58 not out off 45) to overhaul the target with 17 balls and 10 wickets to spare.
Chasing 150, the SRH duo swiftly took their side to 56 runs in the first six overs before steadily adding another 33 runs in the next four overs. Warner notched up his fourth half-century and Saha his second of the season, in the 12th over.
The MI bowlers struggled to get breakthroughs and ended up remaining wicketless as the SRH openers comfortably steered their side home without enduring any hiccups.
Warner's 58-ball knock was laced with 10 boundaries and a six while Saha smashed seven fours and a maximum.
Earlier, SRH restricted MI to 149/8, thanks to some impressive bowling efforts.
While medium-pacer Sandeep Sharma starred with 3/34, speedster Jason Holder and spinner Shahbaz Nadeem stepped up in the crucial match, picking two wickets each while leg-spinner Rashid Khan chipped in with one.
Asked to bat, MI were reeling at 82/5 wickets in 12.1 overs as their top-order -- Quinton de Kock (25), Suryakumar Yadav (36) and Ishan Kishan (33) -- failed to convert their good starts.
Keiron Pollard played a 25-ball 41 run cameo down the order as MI limped to a moderate total.
