Boult once again proved his worth for MI with a four-fer! Had it not been for his early dismissals of Head for a duck and Abhishek for 8, MI would have been chasing a bigger total.
There is always a wicket around the corner when Trent Boult is bowling.
And it was no different on Wednesday against Sunrisers Hyderabad. He was the most lethal of the Mumbai Indians bowlers, finishing with 4 for 26 off his four overs.
The Mumbai Indians pacer stuck to the 'old rule of thumb -- just hit the wicket, keep it simple, and try to make the batters play the tougher shots' -- he revealed after the match.
And he stuck to this mantra as MI thumped SRH by 7 wickets on Wednesday.
Boult provided the breakthrough in his opening over when Travis Head miscued a big slash, only to be caught at deep backward point to commence SRH's rout.
In his second over he got the other opener Abhishek Sharma (8 off 8), who had smashed him for a six in the previous over, exacting his revenge.
A fuller and wider ball but a slower one, Abhishek went for the aggressive cover drive, only to play it straight to point.
In his opening two overs, Boult kept the lengths fuller and the lines tight. He bowled it quick and giving just 8 runs in his opening spell.
Boult now has 4 wickets in the Powerplay in 9 matches this season and since IPL 2024, Boult has most wickets in the Powerplay, picking 16 scalps.
MI started on a fuller length but pulled it back as the overs went by.
The 35-year-old Kiwi was brought back into the attack in the 15th over when Heinrich Klaasen had launched a counter-attack.
Boult was called in to break the partnership but he started the over with a low full toss that Klaasen flicked through mid-wicket for a four to bring up his 50-run stand with Abhinav Manohar.
But as the over progressed he bowled length balls to keep the scoring down to 4 singles and gave away 9 in the over.
Boult was brought in to bowl the final over with the score reading 134 for 6 and with Manohar still at the crease, 150 was looking like a possibility for SRH.
But Boult had plans of his own. Although Manohar started the over with a six over long-off, Boult used all his experience to make a comeback.
He bowled consecutive yorkers before Manohar played the full ball onto his stumps to be bowled out for 43 off the 4th ball of the over.
Boult then bowled another full ball on the middle stump, Cummins made room to play it on the off side but he missed completely and was bowled out for 1.
Boult once again proved his worth for MI with a four-fer! Had it not been for his early dismissals of Head for a duck and Abhishek for 8, MI would have been chasing a bigger total.
Boult has been a quiet performer for MI over the years and he deservedly took the Player of the match on Wednesday.
'Slightly different role for me this year. It’s a low percentage ball for me but as some older bowlers would say, nothing could beat a good yorker. I still love the feeling of competing and getting wickets,' Boult said at the post-match presentation.
