(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Mumbai Indians' dismal run in the Indian Premier League (IPL) continued after they suffered their fifth defeat in six matches when going down tamely to Sunrisers Hyderabad in a low-scoring match on Tuesday.
Chasing a paltry 119 to win, the Rohit Sharma-led side capitulated against some disciplined bowling from SRH to be bundled out for 87, the lowest total of the IPL this season.
The defeat has left Mumbai in the bottom two while Hyderabad joined Chennai Super Kings in second place with Kings XI Punjab ruling the top on 10 points.
It should have been a cake-walk win for the host team in front of a packed Wankhede Stadium but apart from Suryakumar Yadav (34) and Krunal Pandya (24), none of the other batsmen could hang in there with Evin Lewis (5), Ishan Kishan (0) and Rohit Sharma being sent back to the pavilion early. The rest too fell like a pack of cards against some superb bowling from Hyderabad's Siddarth Kaul (3-23) and Rashid Khan (2-11).
Earlier, Rohit Sharma decided to go with an unchanged playing XI after winning the toss and opting to field, while Sunrisers made three changes by bringing in Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammad Nabi and Basil Thampi in place of Ricky Bhui, Deepak Hooda and Billy Stanlake.
News also poured in that Stanlake has been ruled out of the remainder of the IPL season due to a fractured finger.
The Australian suffered a displaced fracture on the little finger of his right hand while fielding in the game against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians rode on a disciplined effort on the field to restrict Hyderabad 118.
Put in to bat, the Sunrisers failed to recover from the dreadful start, of being reduced to 46 for 4 inside the powerplay, with Shikhar Dhawan (5), Wriddhiman Saha (0), Manish Pandey (16) and Shakib Al Hasan (2) all back in the hut inside the first six overs.
Skipper Kane Williamson raged a lone battle with a fighting 21-ball 29, laced with five hits to the fence before veteran Baroda batsman Yusuf Pathan (29 off 33 balls; 4x2, 6x1) took on the mantle, despite losing his partners at regular intervals.
Dhawan, who returned to the playing XI after missing the previous game against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), looked uncomfortable after being hit on his thigh and was bowled by Mitchell McClenaghan the very next ball.
One ball later, Saha perished for nought after being caught behind by Ishan Kishan off McClenaghan.
With the team struggling at 20 for 2, Manish joined Williamson for a brief 24-run third wicket stand before Hardik ended Manish's stay with a wide delivery, comfortably caught by skipper Rohit Sharma at cover.
Mumbai could not have asked for a better start, with Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib falling prey to a confusion, and Suryakumar Yadav's direct throw at the stumps was enough to reduce the visitors to 46/4.
Pathan then joined Williamson, who looked fluent with his strokes but lost concentration on the very first ball after the strategic time-out to be caught behind by Kishan off Hardik Pandya.
With Williamson back in the dug-out, Mohammed Nabi (14) joined Pathan for a brief 23-run sixth-wicket stand before leg-spinner Mayank Markande's googly clipped the top of middle and leg of the Afghanistan all-rounder.
Pacer Jasprit Bumrah then came back to jolt the visitors with the wicket of the other Afghan Rashid Khan (6) caught behind before Markande knocked off the off-stump of Basil Thampi (3) to reduce the Sunrisers to 106/8.
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