Mumbai Indians’ bowler Kwena Maphaka had a tough time during his first IPL match on Wednesday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. The young player conceded a whopping 66 runs in his four overs, including three wides, while playing against SunRisers Hyderabad.
Kwena Maphaka gained attention in the cricket world by being the leading wicket-taker in the U19 World Cup, where he took 21 wickets in six matches. Because of this, Mumbai Indians brought him in as a replacement for the injured Dilshan Madushanka from Sri Lanka.
He got the chance to play against SunRisers Hyderabad instead of Luke Wood and started well, giving away only seven runs in his first over. However, things turned sour in his second over when Travis Head hit him for 22 runs on his way to scoring 62 runs off 24 balls. Later, Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen, and Aiden Markram also scored runs off his bowling, resulting in the 17-year-old failing to take any wickets.
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Kwena Maphaka ended up being the most costly bowler as Mumbai Indians set a record target.
Only Hardik Pandya, Piyush Chawla, and Gerald Coetzee managed to take wickets for the Mumbai Indians as the SunRisers dominated them on their home ground. In the process, they broke a record that had stood for 11 years, previously held by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
With a total of 277-3, the SunRisers surpassed RCB’s old record of 263, making it the highest-ever total in IPL history. The highest successful run chase so far was by the Rajasthan Royals, who chased down 224 runs in the 2020 edition held in the UAE. Therefore, Hardik Pandya’s team will need an outstanding effort to chase down the target of 278.
The 2016 champions made two changes to their lineup, bringing in Travis Head instead of Marco Jansen and swapping T Natarajan for Jaydev Unadkat against Mumbai Indians. On the other hand, Mumbai Indians made just one change.
Both Mumbai Indians and SunRisers Hyderabad are looking for their first points in the tournament after suffering narrow defeats to the Gujarat Titans and Kolkata Knight Riders, respectively.