Will Jacks displayed his mastery. And the pacers effectively used a tacky pitch up front by taking pace off the ball consistently.

It culminated in Mumbai Indians registering a facile four-wicket win against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL.

Riding on Jacks’ all-round show, the home team trounced the visiting side with 11 balls to spare to start off a long weekend for Mumbaikars on a happy note at the Wankhede Stadium.

Jacks was obviously the star of the night. Having struggled to leave his footprint in MI’s blues thus far, the Englishman came good in both the departments to set up the victory.

Even before captain Hardik Pandya introduced Jacks into the attack right after the PowerPlay, Karn Sharma had headed back into the dressing room after injuring his hand while lunging forward to catch a drive off Abhishek Sharma’s blade.

Karn’s loss could well have tilted the tide in Sunrisers’ favour, especially with Jasprit Bumrah having bowled two overs in the PowerPlay.

Even though Abhishek and Travis Head were subdued — having played put together their slowest PowerPlay score (46) as a pair — they were not going to waste any time in going after Jacks.

But Jacks started off with a seven-run over. In his next, with Abhishek having succumbed to Hardik in the eighth, Jacks drew Ishan Kishan forward, spun the ball and Ryan Rickelton whipped the bails off in no time.

Jacks then struck the decisive blow that ensured MI didn’t have to chase down a big total by forcing Head to hole out to long-off.

Had it not been for Aniket Verma’s blitz at the death, Sunrisers would have struggled to cross the 160-run mark.

Impact Player Rohit Sharma produced a cameo and the MI middle-order ensured it didn’t lose the plot thereafter.

Jacks came good with the willow. Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik continued to accelerate with a combination of innovative strokeplay and power-hitting before Tilak Varma sealed the deal with a reverse-sweep off leg-spinner Zeeshan Ansari.

SCOREBOARD

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD

Abhishek Sharma c sub (Bawa) b Hardik 40 (28b, 7×4), Travis Head c Santner b Jacks 28 (29b, 3×4), Ishan Kishan st. Rickelton b Jacks 2 (3b), Nitish Kumar c Tilak b Boult 19 (21b, 1×4), Heinrich Klaasen b Bumrah 37 (28b, 3×4, 2×6), Aniket Verma (not out) 18 (8b, 2×6), Pat Cummins (not out) 8 (4b, 1×6); Extras (b-1, nb-1, w-8): 10; Total (for five wkts. in 20 overs): 162.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-59 (Abhishek, 7.3 overs), 2-68 (Kishan, 8.4), 3-82 (Head, 11.1), 4-113 (Nitish, 16.4), 5-136 (Klaasen, 18.1).

MUMBAI INDIANS BOWLING

Chahar 4-0-47-0, Boult 4-0-29-1, Bumrah 4-0-21-1, Jacks 3-0-14-2, Hardik 4-0-42-1, Santner 1-0-8-0.

MUMBAI INDIANS

Ryan Rickelton c Head b Harshal 31 (23b, 5×4), Rohit Sharma (Impact Player for Karn) c Head b Cummins 26 (16b, 3×6), Will Jacks c Zeeshan b Cummins 36 (26b, 3×4, 2×6), Suryakumar Yadav c Zeeshan b Cummins 26 (15b, 2×4, 2×6), Tilak Varma (not out) 21 (17b, 2×4), Hardik Pandya c Kishan b Malinga 21 (9b, 3×4, 1×6), Naman Dhir lbw b Malinga 0 (3b), Mitchell Santner (not out) 0 (1b); Extras (lb-1, nb-1, w-3): 5; Total (for six wkts. in 18.1 overs): 166.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-32 (Rohit, 3.5), 2-69 (Rickelton, 7.5), 3-121 (Suryakumar, 12.4), 4-128 (Jacks, 14.3), 5-162 (Hardik, 17.2), 6-162 (Naman, 17.5).

SUNRISERS BOWLING

Shami 3-0-28-0, Cummins 4-0-26-3, Malinga 4-0-36-2, Zeeshan 3.1-0-35-0, Harshal 3-0-31-1, Rahul Chahar (Impact Player for Shami) 1-0-9-0.

Toss: MI.

PoM: Jacks.

MI won by four wickets with 11 balls to spare.

MI 137/4 in 15 overs

Tilak (5) and Hardik (8) were at the crease

Riding on Will Jacks‘ all-round performance, Mumbai Indians defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by four wickets with 11 balls remaining in Match No. 33 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.
Jacks provided Mumbai Indians with crucial breakthroughs by removing the dangerous Travis Head and Ishan Kishan with his off-spin.
“Pretty happy. Three lefties in the top, so knew I had a chance to bowl. Definitely some turn. Some grip for the seamers. Sunrisers saw us bowl, we’ll do the same thing. We need to be smart and chase the score down. We had a clear plan,” Jacks told broadcasters during the mid-innings break.
“I was informed yesterday I would be bowling. The coach and the captain gave me the confidence. So, I kept going. I think we are happy with the target. We saw it was difficult at the top. Hopefully, we will see it off at the top, take it deep and chase it down.”

This was Mumbai Indians’ second consecutive victory. The home team dominated the match, finding much-needed momentum.
Hardik Pandya’s decision to bowl first on a slightly damp pitch proved effective. At the toss, Hardik Pandya said the decision was based on the possibility of dew playing a role later in the match.
“Very excited, the way the last couple of days have gone,” he said, adding that they are backing all their batters. “Bumrah is fine, we don’t have to worry about him. If he wasn’t 100%, he wouldn’t be here.”
Who’s that IPL player?
Mumbai Indians’ pace attack immediately troubled Sunrisers Hyderabad’s usually explosive openers. Despite an early dropped catch off Abhishek Sharma, he managed to find boundaries while Travis Head struggled for timing.
The duo added 59 runs before Pandya dismissed Abhishek for a 28-ball 40, a dismissal that came at a cost as Pandya briefly injured his ankle. This injury scare followed Karn Sharma’s earlier exit, who injured his bowling hand in the third over and did not return. Will Jacks then removed both Ishan Kishan and the struggling Travis Head, who scored a laborious 28 off 29 balls.

Nitish Kumar Reddy’s innings faltered, but Heinrich Klaasen‘s late surge provided SRH with some much-needed impetus. Klaasen particularly targeted Deepak Chahar, whose initial spell was strong but faltered in his final over. Aniket Verma and Pat Cummins contributed crucial late runs, pushing Sunrisers Hyderabad’s total to 162/5 in 20 overs.
Interestingly, Sunrisers Hyderabad are the only team yet to register an away win in this year’s edition.
Brief Scores
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 162/5 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 40, Heinrich Klaasen 37; Will Jacks 2-14, Jasprit Bumrah 1-21)
Mumbai Indians: 166/6 in 18.1 overs (Will Jacks 36, Ryan Rickelton 31, Rohit Sharma 26; Pat Cummins 3/26)