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IPL 2025: Mumbai Indian’s bowling tricks on slow pitch get them second straight win
Mumbai Indians (MI) won an important toss, got the best of the conditions, and made excellent use of them to run away to their third win of IPL 2025, beating Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by four wickets. They sent SRH in on an unusually sluggish pitch at the Wankhede Stadium and restricted them to 162 for 5. They then hunted down their target with 11 balls to spare, with a bit of help from dew – though not enough to force a ball change.
MI’s biggest match-winner on the day was Will Jacks, who had made a quiet start to the season, but showed all his value in his sixth match with his new team. His 26-ball 36 was an important innings, but he made an even bigger impact with his offspin, bossing his match-up against SRH’s entirely left-handed top three and finishing with 2 for 14 in three overs.
Jacks’ three overs allowed MI to delay their use of their Impact Player, even though they lost their legspinner Karn Sharma – Player of the Match in their last game against Delhi Capitals – to an injury before he could bowl a ball. Not being forced to bring on a bowler as his replacement allowed MI to sub in Rohit Sharma at the start of their chase, and he gave them impetus with an early cameo. With Ryan Rickelton, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya also contributing handily, MI never allowed SRH’s bowlers to get a sniff.
For all that, though, this was a match won by MI’s bowlers. Jasprit Bumrah executed best, but their other fast bowlers also played their part in constricting SRH with a plan heavy on slower balls and yorkers on a surface where powering the ball down the ground seemed impossible at times.
This was why SRH only managed to post 162, despite a 59-run opening stand from Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head both of whom enjoyed major slices of luck along the way. That SRH got that far was down to a strong finish, with the 18th and 20th overs bringing 21 and 22 runs respectively as Heinrich Klassen, Aniket Verma and Pat Cummins hit the only five sixes of their innings.
The first over of the match was an ominous one for MI. Deepak Chahar found Abhishek’s edge first ball only for the overhead chance to burst through Jacks’ hands at slip. Then Head flicked uppishly only for the ball to fall short of the diving Karn at midwicket.
The latter event happened in the third over as well, this time off Abhishek’s bat, and this time Karn’s futile dive also gave him a split webbing. He left the field and didn’t return to bowl.
Fortune smiled on SRH again in the 10th over, when Head was caught on the square-leg boundary off a no-ball from Hardik. But the bigger story was that Head was batting on 24 off 24 at that point, struggling to time the ball on a pitch where the ball simply wouldn’t come on to the bat. Abhishek had looked a little more fluent, scoring 40 off 27 before being caught on the point boundary off Hardik in the eighth over.
That wicket had come right after another ominous moment for MI, when Hardik had pulled up in his follow-through with what seemed like an injury to his left shin or ankle. He even seemed to gesture to his dugout to call for a substitute, but in the end he dusted himself off and continued bowling.
SRH only scored 46 in the powerplay despite not losing a wicket, and while the slow, grippy conditions played their part, MI’s bowlers also used them beautifully, with Bumrah standing out, giving away just 10 runs in his two powerplay overs.
MI brought on Jacks as soon as the powerplay ended, and he immediately began finding grip and turn. After Hardik had broken the opening stand in the eighth over, Jacks struck his first blow in the ninth, turning an offbreak sharply past the flailing bat of the charging Ishan Kishan to have him stumped.
Then, changing ends to bowl the 12th over, Jacks ended Head’s miserable stay, having him caught at long-off for 28 off 29 balls.
Head’s dismissal – a failure to clear the straight boundary – was a theme of SRH’s innings, with all their batters struggling for power down the ground. Only four fours came from the eighth to the 15th overs, and all four were hit behind the wicket. Klaasen and Nitish Kumar Reddy batted through most of this period, putting on 31 off 33 balls.
A three-run 17th over from Trent Boult, which included the wicket of Reddy, caught at long-on, left SRH 115 for 4 with 140 looking a fair distance away.
But they managed to collect 47 off the last three, with Klaasen, Aniket and Cummins finally ending their sixes drought. Two of the five sixes involved exquisite skill from Klaasen and Aniket over the covers, but three came off hittable full-tosses. There were seven full-tosses in all in the last three overs, suggesting that dew may have already started setting in.
One of those full-tosses, however, came from Bumrah, who bowls the most unhittable full-tosses in world cricket, and bowled Klaasen as he attempted to make room. His 19th only went for four runs, sandwiched between expensive overs from Deepak Chahar and Hardik.
Impact sub Rohit took his chances early on, enjoyed a bit of luck, including an edged six over deep third, and hit a couple of trademark pulled sixes off his hip to give MI early impetus. Rickelton struggled early on, got going with three successive fours off Eshan Malinga and enjoyed a strange stroke of luck when he was caught in the covers off Zeeshan Ansari only for an umpire’s review to confirm a no-ball – for keeper Klaasen’s gloves encroaching in front of the stumps before the batter had hit the ball. But Rickelton was out soon after, miscuing a Harshal Patel slower ball to backward point.
Between them, though, the openers had shaved 57 runs off MI’s target.
Then Jacks and Suryakumar combined for the decisive partnership of the match, putting on 52 for the third wicket in just 29 balls. They hit four sixes and a four in three overs from legspinners Ansari and Rahul Chahar – who came on as Impact Sub, replacing Mohammed Shami who still had an over of his quota remaining – who were still finding grip off this surface but ever so often erred in line or length.
By the time Cummins broke this stand, MI needed 42 at less than a run a ball. Hardik hurried them towards victory, hitting a six and three fours – including a glorious back-foot punch through wide long-on off Cummins – and they finally got home at the start of the 19th over, after a bizarre 18th that brought Malinga two wickets for just one run.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 166 for 6 in 18.1 overs (Will Jacks 36, Ryan Rickelton 31,Rohit Sharma 26, Surykumar Yadav 26, Tilak Varma 21*, Hardik Pandya 21; Pat Cummins 3-26, Eshan Malinga 2-36, Harshal Patel 1-31) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 162 for 5 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 40, Travis Head 28, Nitish Kumar Reddy 19, Heirich Klaasen 37, Aniket Verma 18*; Will Jacks 2-14, Trent Boult 1-29, Jasprit Bumrah 1-21, Hardik Pandya 1-42) by four wickets
[Cricinfo]
The annual rugby encounter between Dharmaraja College and Kingswood College, played for the William Weerasinghe Memorial Trophy, is set to take place tomorrow (July 11, 2026), at 4:00 PM at the Bogambara Stadium, Kandy.
The official unveiling of the trophy took place this week at the Dharmaraja College premises with the participation of the Principals of the two schools, teachers-in-charge of sports, coaches, the Rugby teams, and several distinguished guests, including Dharmaraja College Old Boys’ Association President Mahesh Wijetunga, Kingswood College Old Boys’ Association President Muditha Abeykoon,
by S K SAMARANAYAKE
It has been reported quoting family sources that veteran singer Mariazelle Goonetilleke has passed away this morning (10) at the age of 68
She had been receiving treatment at the Kalubowila Teaching Hospital.
The US and Iran again traded strikes in exchanges that continued into Thursday, as observers reported a “dramatic” drop in the number of ships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz.
The US says it hit 90 military targets, some near the Strait. Iran says 14 people have been killed in the past two days.
State media also reported that targets near the Bushehr nuclear power plant were hit, citing the deputy governor of the province. The US has not commented on the latest strikes.
Iran said it targeted US assets in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar in response. Later on Thursday, Tehran launched more strikes on sites in Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq, state-linked media reported.
Separately, huge crowds gathered as Iran’s late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was buried after six days of funeral events.
Crowds massed on the streets of Mashhad in north-eastern Iran waving Iranian flags, while some were pictured holding signs carrying death threats directed at US President Donald Trump.
Khamenei was killed on 28 February during the first hours of US and Israeli strikes against Iran.
Iran’s foreign ministry denounced the latest US strikes as a “grave war crime”, describing the US administration as “evil and psychopathic”
Bridges and a railway route connecting Tehran to the city of Mashhad, where the late supreme leader’s funeral is being held, were also damaged, the foreign ministry said.
Iran’s health ministry said 14 people had been killed and 78 people injured across five provinces.
Gulf nations reported Iranian attacks following the US strikes, with explosions in Bahrain’s capital Manama, Kuwait intercepting missiles and drones, and Qatar issuing a security alert.
Later on Thursday, explosions were heard in Iran’s southern port of Konarak, with a local official telling Iran’s official news agency a navy site was attacked by an “enemy”.
However a US defence official told the BBC it had not carried out any strikes in Iran in recent hours.
The funeral of Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei is being held in the city of Mashhad [BBC]
Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is also the country’s chief negotiator with the US, said on X that America “still hasn’t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free”.
“Let me put it plainly: if you strike, you’ll get hit,” he wrote, adding that the Strait of Hormuz will only open under Iranian arrangements – not “American threats”.
US Central Command (Centcom) said the most recent round of strikes was carried out to “further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping and innocent civilian mariners” in the vital waterway.
In a statement, it said it had struck 90 Iranian military targets, which included air defense systems and military logistics infrastructure along Iran’s coastline.
“The latest strikes follow successful execution of offensive strikes in Iran the night before,” Centcom added.
Phil Belcher, marine director at Intertanko, an international organisation for independent tanker owners, said the number of ships travelling through the Strait via the southern route closer to Oman was now in “single figures” following the step up in hostilities.
Belcher added that the overall daily figure of about 30 ships was down from about 70 a week ago and well below the normal number of 130 ships that was seen before the Iran war began earlier this year.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that there had been an “exuberance of optimism” around shipping in the region following the signing of the SMemorandum Of Understanding between Iran and the US last month, but now the mood has changed.
“This cycle of violence, this cycle of up-and-down, positive-negative news, it’s having an enormous impact both on business and on the seafarers themselves,” he said.
On Wednesday night Iranian state TV reported eight explosions in Bandar Abbas, and said two missiles had hit the ports of both Sirik and Jask – also in southern Iran.
It added that two projectiles had hit the island of Abu Musa, which has been the subject of a longstanding ownership dispute between Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
The extent of damage from the US strikes is not yet known, but Iranian media have reported power cuts in Chabahar and a fire at an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) barracks in Bushehr. Images on social media showed damage to a marine control tower in Chabahar.
Earlier on Wednesday, Centcom wrote in a statement that it held Iran accountable for “recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway.”
President Trump said late on Wednesday that Iran had “called a little while ago” and wanted to make a deal “so badly”.
Trump added: “I just don’t know if they’re worthy of making a deal – I don’t know that they’re going to honour the deal, that’s the problem.”
The current flare up has been the worst exchange of strikes between the US and Iran since the deal – known as a memorandum of understanding (MoU) – was signed on 17 June.
Trump said the ceasefire agreement signed last month with Iran was now “over”. He told reporters: “I don’t want to deal with them anymore, they’re scum. You know what scum is? They’re scum. They’re sick people.”
In response, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X: “We do not answer vulgarity with vulgarity, but with action: fearlessly and with great valour.”
The deal between the US and Iran included 14 points, among them a 60-day period for a ceasefire during which negotiations should continue, the safe passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz and the US lifting sanctions on Iran.
The 60-day period for negotiations is not yet up, but Trump said he saw further talks as “a waste of time”.
[BBC]
Dharmaraja and Kingswood set for historic rugby clash on Saturday
Sri Lankan singer Mariazelle Goonetilleke passes away at the age of 68
Tensions erupt in Indian state after 11-year-old raped and murdered
US and Iran trade attacks as Khamenei is buried
Several spells of showers will occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and in Galle, Matara, Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya districts
Canadian PM visits Saudi Arabia to strengthen energy, mining partnerships
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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