Cameron Green justified his price tag with a magnificent century to give the Mumbai Indians (MI) a fighting chance to reach the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 playoffs with an eight-wicket win against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Sunday, May 21. Chasing 201 for the win was no mammoth feat for the five-time champions, with their uncapped pacer Akash Madhwal taking four with the ball before Green's ton took them to the target with 12 balls to spare.
Cameron Green shines for MI
Green's innings was one of massive importance as the batter came in one down and went on to smash his half-century off just 20 balls. He brought up his half-century with his 5th six of the tournament, off Vivrant Sharma's bowling, combining well with skipper Rohit Sharma for a partnership of 128 runs in just 65 balls.
Rohit Sharma himself scored 56 runs in 37 balls, with 8 fours and a six to his name before Mayank Dagar took his wicket with a brilliant catch taken by Nitish Reddy.
After this setback, Green put a break on his batting but not for long, combining with Suryakumar Yadav for an unbeaten partnership of 53 runs in just 30 balls.
Green and Suryakumar lead MI to victory
At one point when Suryakumar upped his ante the way he does, it did not look like the Australian would be able to reach his century, but the two planned the end of the innings in a perfect manner that Green reached his century on the last ball of the 18th over and also closed out the match for MI.
Akash Madhwal's bowling
Earlier, SRH had seemingly found a fit opening pair after a century opening stand between seasoned opener Mayank Agarwal (83 off 45 balls) and rookie Vivrant Sharma (69 off 47 balls) threatened to take the game away. Agarwal and Vivrant put on 140 together, which, despite a collapse in the second half of the first innings, took the total past 200 for the bottom-placed side.
Young pacer Madhwal took 4 for 37 which included two lethal deliveries to clean up Heinrich Klaasen (18) and Harry Brook (0), as SRH managed only 26 in the last three overs.
Vivrant Sharma at his best
Vivrant's innings included seven fours and a six, bringing up his maiden IPL half-century in the 10th over, as SRH cruised in the first half of the contest unscathed and unperturbed by MI’s bowlers.
Agarwal too ended his drought, hitting a six and a four off Jason Behrendorff in the 13th over to bring up his first fifty of this season, and celebrated with a gesture that batters usually do upon reaching the three-figure mark - taking off the helmet and arms stretched wide.
The first breakthrough came in the 14th over when Madhwal had Vivrat caught at deep mid-wicket, with his 69 off 47 balls (9 fours, 2 sixes) being the highest score since the first IPL for any Indian player in his debut innings. Madhwal continued to use the short ball well and in the 17th over, he had Agarwal caught behind for 83, which came off 46 balls including eight fours and four sixes.
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