IPL 2013: All-round Amit Mishra stars as Pune self-destruct vs Hyderabad
Mishra's over, the 19th of the innings, capped an incredible passage of play in which Pune slid from 101 for 4 in 16.5 overs to 108 all out in 19 overs.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: April 17, 2013 11:30 PM IST
When Pune Warriors India faced off against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the third match of the Indian Premier League 2013 on April 5, they failed to chase down a modest target, having kept Hyderabad to 126 for 5. Incredibly enough, Hyderabad pulled off a similar heist after looking down and out for most of the contest with only 119 for 8 to defend when the two sides met again at the Subroto Roy Sahara Stadium on Wednesday (April 17), to escape with a 11-run win, after Pune could manage only 108 all out in 19 overs.
The hero for Hyderabad was Amit Mishra, who first propped up a fading innings with 30 off 24, then finished the Pune innings in the blink of an eye, taking four wickets - including a hat-trick in the penultimate over - to bowl Pune out and finish with figures of 4 for 19 in four overs.
Mishra's over, the 19th of the innings, capped an incredible passage of play in which Pune slid from 101 for 4 in 16.5 overs to 108 all out in 19 overs. That Pune lost after a start that yielded 38 runs in 4.1 overs made the collapse more unbelievable. Both Robin Uthappa and Aaron Finch, the openers, fell off successive deliveries to Thisara Perera to leave them 38 for 2 in 4.3 overs. Although the runscoring slowed, the low total meant Pune were very much in the hunt, when the game turned again with Dale Steyn's final ball. Mitchell Marsh and Angelo Mathews, who had returned to lead Pune, were involved in a steady fifth wicket stand when Marsh top-edged Steyn to midwicket at the end of the 17th over, starting the slide.
Abhishek Nayar fell to Perera two balls later, and Mishra took the wickets of Angelo Mathews, who returned to captain Pune, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Sharma and Ashok Dinda in the next over to seal the deal.
Pune's implosion put an incisive spell with the new ball from Bhuvneshwar, who took 3 for 18 in four overs after Hyderabad were sent in to bat, in the shade. Bhuvneshwar scythed through the Hyderabad top order, bowling his four overs in one go at the start and bending the ball both ways. Parthiv Patel played inside the line to a peach that swung away and took out the stumps, Cameron White, the Hyderabad captain, was done in first ball to one that swung in, and G Hanuma Vihari poked at an away-going delivery to be snaffled in the slips.
When Hyderabad could collect their breath post the wreckage, the scoreboard read a forlorn 17 for 4 in five overs, Quinton de Kock having fallen earlier to Ashok Dinda. Hyderabad's already suspect batting line-up had been further tweaked, when Kumar Sangakkara, the designated captain for the franchise, sat out of the match for de Kock to be included.
Hyderabad's only remaining hope for a competitive total was Thisara Perera, but he too fell cheaply, edging Mitchell Marsh behind to leave Hyderabad 44 for 6 in 10.4 overs. That they got to three figures from there was thanks to a lower order rally by Biplab Samantray (37 off 37) and Mishra, with the seventh and eighth wickets combining to add 71 runs.
The runs proved crucial, as did Mishra's inspired spell at the end, with Hyderabad joining Royal Challengers Bangalore at the top of the points table with four wins in six games.