Kieron Pollard treated everyone to some unbelievable six-hitting, but it was Dale Steyn and the Sunrisers Hyderabad that came away with smiles on their faces as the Mumbai Indians suffered their fifth straight defeat in IPL 2014.
The final match in the UAE was a brilliant T20 match, with the Sunrisers posting a big total of 172 for five in their 20 overs, thanks to a half-century from David Warner and an equally good knock from youngster KL Rahul.
In reply, the Mumbai Indians were in deep trouble after losing three early wickets, but Pollard played one of those T20 innings, hitting six sixes, including three consecutive ones off Amit Mishra, to take the game right down to the wire, before the Sunrisers held their nerves to pick up their second win in five games this season.
"The bowlers were brilliant under pressure and we are really getting stronger as a team," an elated Sunrisers captain Shikhar Dhawan said.
Dhawan also praised the facilities in the UAE, with the match on Wednesday in Dubai being the final one as IPL 2014 now heads back to India. "The wickets have been great here in the UAE and so has the support, we have really enjoyed it," he added.
Rohit Sharma, who could only manage one run on his 27th birthday, was understandably disappointed, even if MI, the defending champions, at least made a game of it this time, something they have been unable to do all season.
"It is frustrating that things are not going our way, we started off really well with the ball but if you don't keep getting wickets then they can take us out the game," Sharma said, with a century partnership between Warner and Rahul swaying the first innings SRH's way.
"We wanted to chase so I have no problem fielding first. We have to win pretty much all our games from here on and going back to our home conditions will help us, we have to stay positive."
Watch Mumbai Indians vs Sunrisers Hyderabad Match Highlights HERE, HERE or HERE.
