SRH Crush MI With Record Chase, Register 100th IPL Win

Runs bled from every bowler and the cricket ball got a good battering across all corners of the park as fifties from Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen outclassed Ryan Rickelton's maiden IPL century at Wankhede on Wednesday.

Now in their IPL history since their debut in 2013, SRH has secured 100 wins, 104 losses and a no result across a total of 205 matches. In their 13 seasons so far, SRH has been one of league's more consistent teams, having won the trophy in 2016, ending runners-up in 2018 and 2024 and having reached playoffs in other four seasons. Having won six matches so far out of nine and standing at the sixth spot in the points table, SRH looks pretty much set for another move to the playoffs.

A total of 10 chases of targets above 200 runs have been carried out this season, outdoing a total of nine such chases last year. The highest chase was carried out by Punjab Kings (PBKS), who conquered the largest target in T20 history by hunting down 265 against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Delhi recently.

This is SRH's second-highest most successful run-chase, below 246 runs chased down against Punjab Kings (PBKS) last year. It is also the fourth-best IPL chase of all time.

By outclassing a gun MI bowling attack consisting of the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult and Allah Ghazanfar among others, SRH have handed them their second defeat while defending targets of 200 or more. In their entire history, MI has won 19 matches while defending 200 runs or more, losing just two times. The other instance was a loss to PBKS in the Qualifier while defending 204 runs.

The magnitude of this win is massive, as it is only SRH's third win at Wankhede, the previous two had come back in 2018 and 2022 while defending totals.

Coming to the match, MI opted to bat first, with Will Jacks (46 in 22 balls, with five fours and three sixes) and Ryan Rickelton putting on an explosive 93-run stand. Rickelton stayed till the end, bringing his maiden IPL century and the fastest one for MI, stitching valuable partnerships with Naman Dhir (22 in 17 balls, with three fours) and skipper Hardik Pandya (31 in 15 balls, with two fours and two sixes). Ricketon carried his bat for 123* in 55 balls, with 10 fours and eight sixes, making sure that MI reached 243/5.

Praful Hinge (2/54) and Eshan Malinga (1/29) were standout bowlers for SRH.

During the chase, Travis Head roared back to form, scoring a 30-ball 76 (with four boundaries and eight sixes) and stitching a 129 run stand with Abhishek Sharma (45 in 24 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes). Despite slipping to 133/3 in 9.4 overs courtesy of Allah Ghazanfar (2/51) and Hardik Pandya (1/39), SRH chased down the target with Heinrich Klaasen (65* in 30 balls, with seven fours and four sixes) laying down the anchor with Nitish Kumar Reddy (21 in 17 balls, with three fours) for a 80-run stand and Salil Arora (30* in 10 balls, with two fours and three sixes) playing a fiery cameo.

SRH made a lightwork of the chase with six wickets and eight balls in hand, registering their sixth win of the season in nine matches and staying at third position with 12 points. MI is at the ninth spot and desperately needs to win their remaining matches to stay in the playoffs hunt.

- ANI