IPL 2025: Will Jacks` all-round contribution help MI seal victory by four wicket

Rohit Sharma’s brief stays at the crease continued. On Thursday, though, he posted his highest score of this IPL season, 26 off 16 balls, to give Mumbai Indians a brisk start (32 in 3.5 overs), he ended up with another tame dismissal, tapping Pat Cummins to cover fielder Travis Head for a simple catch.

Making a mark with bat

In walked Will Jacks in the fourth over. Jacks displayed a fine all-round performance, taking two for 14 in three overs of his off-spin and later scoring 36 from 26 balls (3×4, 2×6) to shine in MI’s four-wicket win.

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Will Jacks during his 36 yesterday. Pic/Atul Kamble

Jacks was MI’s best bowler, first helping them to restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to 162-5. Then he was also MI’s top-scorer as Hardik Pandya & Co. posted their third victory in seven matches, though not without drama as the MI captain and Naman Dhir fell with the scores level to medium-pacer Eshan Malinga. MI remain in seventh place in the points table after the win, and SRH, ninth.

Player-of-the-match Jacks ensured MI did not mess up in the run-chase. When he was dismissed in the 15th over by SRH’s best bowler Pat Cummins (3-26), the hosts were just 35 shy of the target, Pandya (21) and Tilak Varma (21 not out) thereafter ensuring MI’s victory.

Jacks revealed during the mid-innings break that he had been informed by the team management a day before that he would be bowling considering SRH have three left-handers in their top five. The trust the MI think-tank showed in Jacks boosted his confidence manifold and motivated him to give his best.

The 26-year-old from Surrey, in only his second season of the IPL, having turned out for Royal Challengers Bengaluru last year, bowled three overs, filling in brilliantly for leg-spinner Karn Sharma. Karn hurt his bowling hand while attempting a catch off Abhishek in the game’s third over and went off the field, leaving MI with a bowler short.

Late surge by SRH

The pitch was not a typical Wankhede strip. The match was played on the same surface on which MI dismissed Kolkata Knight Riders for 116 two-and-a-half weeks ago. SRH went beyond 160, thanks largely to two big overs – 21 off Deepak Chahar in the 18th and 22 off Pandya in the 20th when Heinrich Klaasen and Aniket Verma began hitting out.

MI captain Pandya employed only four overs of spin, three from Jacks and one from left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner. Jacks was deployed in the seventh over from the pavilion end. In his second over, he removed Ishan Kishan stumped for just two. He then changed ends and ended the struggling Travis Head’s stay, having him caught at long-off for a 29-ball 28.

Brief scores
SRH 162-5 in 20 overs (A Sharma 40, H Klaasen 37; W Jacks 2-14) lost to MI 166-6 in 18.1 overs (W Jacks 36, R Rickelton 31; P Cummins 3-26, E Malinga 2-36) by four wickets