Mumbai and Chennai slip to fourth successive defeats

Royal Challengers Bangalore celebrate during their win over Mumbai Indians in the IPL in Pune yesterday.

Suryakumar Yadav hit an unbeaten 68 but his Mumbai Indians team fell to their fourth successive loss of this season’s IPL as they went down to Royal Challengers Bangalore yesterday. Holders Chennai Super Kings also suffered their fourth straight loss after Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated them by eight wickets in the first match of the day in Mumbai. The swashbuckling Suryakumar lifted Mumbai from 79-6 to 151-6 but the total barely tested Faf du Plessis’ Bangalore who achieved their target with nine balls and seven wickets to spare in Pune. Up and coming Indian talent Anuj Rawat hit 66 and put on 80 runs with Virat Kohli (48) to guide the team, who hunt for their maiden Indian Premier League title, to their third win in four games. Mumbai started strongly with an opening stand of 50 between captain Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan – both scored 26 –before pace bowler Harshal Patel and Sri Lankan spinner Wanindu Hasaranga rattled the batting. But Suryakumar, who hit five fours and six sixes in his 37-ball knock, kept up the fight till the finish as he raised his 50 in a 23-run 19th over from Mohammed Siraj. Harshal ended with figures of 2-23 and Hasaranga also took two wickets including the big-hitting Kieron Pollard, for nought, with his leg spin. In reply, Bangalore lost Du Plessis for 16 but Rawat, a left-handed batter, took the attack to the opposition as he hit sixes in his 47-ball blitz before being run out. Kohli fell two short of his fifty after being trapped lbw off South African leg-spinner Dewald Brevis but looked unhappy with his dismissal after his umpire review was turned down. Earlier, Indian batter Abhishek Sharma struck his maiden half-century as Sunrisers Hyderabad thrashed Chennai. Chasing 155 for victory, Hyderabad depended on an opening stand of 89 between Abhishek (75) and skipper Kane Williamson (32) to achieve their target with 14 balls and eight wickets to spare in Mumbai. Abhishek, a 21-year-old left-hand batter who plays for the northern state of Punjab in domestic cricket, hammered three sixes in his 50-ball knock before he fell to Dwayne Bravo. Rahul Tripathi hit an unbeaten 15-ball 39 to drive 2016 winners Hyderabad to their first win in the third attempt of this edition’s Twenty20 tournament. Chennai’s England all-rounder Moeen Ali made 48 off 35 balls and guided Chennai to 154 for seven after being put into bat first. Spinner Washington Sundar and left-arm quick T Natarajan took two wickets each and checked the opposition scoring with their disciplined bowling. Moeen and Ambati Rayudu, who made 27, put together 62 runs for the third wicket before Jadeja smashed 23 off 15 balls to boost the total. Brief scoresMumbai Indians 151/6 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 68 not out, Rohit Sharma 26; Harshal Patel 2/23, Wanindu Hasaranga 2/28) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 152/3 in 18.3 overs (Anuj Rawat 66; Virat Kohli 48; Dewald Brevis 1/8, Jaydev Unadkat 1/30) by seven wicketsChennai Super Kings 154/7 in 20 overs (Moeen Ali 48, Ambati Rayudu 27, Ravindra Jadeja 23; Washington Sundar 2-21, T. Natarajan 2-30) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad 155/2 in 17.4 overs (Abhishek Sharma 75, Kane Williamson 32, Rahul Tripathi 39 not out; Mukesh Choudhary 1-30, Bravo 1-29) by 8 wickets.