SRH chase 244 at Wankhede with 8 balls to spare as Rickelton's 123 goes to waste
The strange thing about a 492-run game is how quickly it can swing. Ryan Rickelton's 123 not out had given Mumbai a platform that should have been enough at almost any IPL ground. Then Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma walked out and put on 129 in 8.4 overs, and the chase was effectively settled before SRH had lost a wicket.
Heinrich Klaasen handled the closing stretch. His unbeaten 65 off 30 included a 22-ball fifty that took the chase past the point where MI's quicks could find a way back. Salil Arora, the young SRH wicketkeeper-batter, walked in late and hit 30 off 10 to finish the job, the kind of cameo SRH have been waiting for from one of their auction punts.
Rickelton's hundred and a top order finally clicking
Mumbai had every reason to fancy 243 for 5. Rickelton, opening with Will Jacks while Quinton de Kock sat out with a wrist injury, raced to a hundred in 44 balls, the fastest IPL century by a Mumbai player. By the end of his stay he had eight sixes, ten fours, and a not-out 123 that took him past Sanath Jayasuriya's 114 not out from 2008 as the highest individual score by an MI batter in the league. Jacks added 46 off 22 in the powerplay, the pair pushing MI to 78 without loss inside six overs and from there to a total only the fourth-highest chase in IPL history would beat.
It is also the highest team total recorded at the Wankhede, edging past the 240 for 4 Royal Challengers Bengaluru put up at the same ground earlier this season.
Head and Abhishek finish the contest in the powerplay
SRH's reply was a reminder of how quickly this batting unit can settle a chase. Head was on 76 when he fell, Abhishek 45, and by then SRH were past 129 for one with the asking rate comfortable. The boundary count from those eight overs alone took the wind out of MI's death-overs plans, and Hardik Pandya's only wicket of the night came at a cost of 39 runs.
Klaasen's role at the back end is now closer to a constant than a variable. The unbeaten 65 at the Wankhede pushed the chase home with overs to spare and turned what looked like a contest at the innings break into a procession by the seventeenth.
The table after Match 41
SRH have now won five in a row after losing three of their first four. The win takes them to 12 points and third place, level with Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Rajasthan Royals on points but separated from them on net run rate. Punjab Kings remain top on 13.
For Mumbai, the loss leaves them ninth on four points with six games left. The mathematics are not impossible on paper, but the gap to the top four is now wider than the form of any single batting card can close, and the Wankhede crowd that had cheered Rickelton through the night left knowing the playoff race had moved on without them.
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