IPL 2021: Plan was to take the pace off as much as we can, says Vijay Shankar
Apr 17, 2021
Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 17 : Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) all-rounder Vijay Shankar said the bowlers' plan was to bowl slower deliveries against Mumbai Indians here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday.
Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma played knocks of 40 and 32, but SRH managed to maintain a stranglehold as Mumbai Indians were restricted to 150/5 in the allotted twenty overs.
Vijay, who picked two wickets in the ongoing game, said the change in pace worked for SRH as they were able to restrict Mumbai Indians to a decent total.
"I just tried to take the pace off. With the new ball, it was coming on nicely to the bat, we just had a plan of taking the pace off as much as we can," Vijay told host broadcaster Star Sports.
"There was a good pace and it was also sitting up nicely when we were bowling at normal speed. The change-ups worked a lot for us. It looked (like) a very good wicket, it's important for us to bat out 20 overs and give us a good chance to chase this total," he added.
Opting to bat first, Mumbai Indians got off to a brilliant start as openers Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock put on 53 runs inside the first six overs. During the course, Rohit went past MS Dhoni to record the most number of sixes for an Indian batsman in the IPL.
SRH finally got the much-needed breakthrough in the seventh over as Vijay Shankar dismissed Rohit (32). Suryakumar Yadav (10) played two stunning shots but that was what he managed to do in totality as he was dismissed by Shankar in the ninth over, reducing Mumbai to 71/2.
Ishan Kishan then joined de Kock in the middle and the duo put on 27 runs for the third wicket, but the partnership was cut short by Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the 14th over as he sent de Kock (40) back to the pavilion.
Ishan (12) failed to get going with the bat and at no point, he looked comfortable in his 21-ball knock. The left-handed batsman was able to record his innings at a below-par strike rate of 57.14.
In the final two overs, Hardik Pandya (7), Pollard, and Krunal Pandya tried their best to register big strikes, but SRH managed to keep them in check. In the final over, Pollard hit two sixes and as a result, he registered his 200th sixth in the IPL.
