Rohit Sharma, after Mumbai Indians outplayed Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in Sunday's afternoon match, said there was nothing more they could than "hope for the best". Well, "the best" happened to the Mumbai Indians at the end of the day.
Despite the dominating win in their last league game, Mumbai had to suffer an anxious wait to find out their fate in IPL 2023. If Royal Challengers Bangalore could beat Gujarat Titans in the day's second match, Mumbai would have been eliminated on the basis of an inferior net run rate.
But that did not happen as RCB lost their game to Titans by six wickets. Mumbai finished on 16 points, two more than the Bangalore team, and sneaked into the playoffs as the fourth team.
Rohit Sharma during his knock of 56 off 37 balls against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday. PTI picture
"We came with that mindset, we wanted to win and not worry about what happens elsewhere. What you can control, you can control and then hope for the best," Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
"If we go through, I'll give all the credit to the boys. That's how it works," the Mumbai skipper said.
Mumbai will play Lucknow Super Giants in Wednesday's Eliminator contest.
Brave play
Credit should be given to Mumbai for coming up with a solid all-round display in such a pressure game. And Cameron Green would get the lion's share of the applause for his stunning hundred in a 201-run chase.
Green’s maiden IPL century — 100 not out off 47 balls — and Rohit's fifty ensured that Mumbai had a smooth ride in their chase.
Though Mumbai knocked off the target with 12 balls to spare, it did not help them finish with a better run rate than RCB. They had an improbable task of scoring 201 in 11.4 overs or 70 balls if they had to get past RCB’s net run rate. But in the end, it did not matter.
Mumbai were clear in their strategy for the game. "Our intention was to win the game. We were not going to try and chase down the target in the seventh over anyway or anything to try and boost our (net) run-rate," Man-of-the-Match Green said after the match.
"We know how close games can get here at the Wankhede, both teams score really freely out here. All we were thinking was to win and put pressure on RCB," the Australian added.
Green smacked eight fours and eight sixes during his match-winning knock.
Earlier, unheralded Uttarakhand pacer Akash Madhwal (4/37) nailed his yorkers consistently at the death as Mumbai restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to 200/5. Sunrisers ended with at least 15 short of an ideal total.
