'Relaxed' Ishant does the job for Sunrisers

Ishant Sharma, one of the key figures in Sunrisers Hyderabad's seven-wicket win against Mumbai Indians at Uppal on Wednesday, has said he is pleased with the way IPL 2013 has gone for him so far. In the Mumbai Indians game, he said, he just looked to stick to his plans and that worked for him.

"I assessed the conditions and tried to execute whatever set plan we had for each batsmen. I bowled according to my strengths without thinking about the batsman," Ishant told the IPL site. "I am pleased that we did well as a collective bowling unit. We kept things simple, without trying anything extraordinary, and did our basics right today.

"I have been going in with a relaxed mindset these days, which is something that has worked for me in the IPL. I have been consistent throughout the tournament. My economy rate has been close to seven, which I feel is fair enough to have in this format of the game. I am pretty happy with the way I am bowling."

Sunrisers kept Mumbai Indians to 129 and then chased down the target with a couple of overs to spare. Ishant was the most effective of the home side's bowlers, taking 2 for 15 in his four, including a maiden over and the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and the in-form Dinesh Karthik. "It is a tremendous feeling to get Sachin Tendulkar's wicket," Ishant said. "When I started playing cricket, I never felt I would someday bowl to Tendulkar or be playing against him. It is a big moment for any bowler to get the wicket of one of the best batsman in the world."

Sharma had got both Tendulkar and Karthik in the same over, the fifth of the innings. Mumbai Indians suffered another double-strike in the 13th over, losing Dwayne Smith and Rohit Sharma to legspinner Amit Mishra. Ishant said Mishra's contribution was vital: "He did a great job by keeping the Mumbai batsmen silent and taking crucial wickets. I guess we bowled well in pairs and did a great job in restricting Mumbai to 129."

Rohit Sharma, the Mumbai Indians captain, said the credit for curbing his side had to go to the Sunrisers bowlers. "Probably we were 10-15 runs short. You have to give credit to Sunrisers bowlers. They bowled well, stuck to their plan," Rohit said. "Sometimes it doesn't come off. It was one of those days where our batting didn't click. In the last nine games we scored more than 70 runs in last five overs but today was one of those days when things didn't go our way. I thought they played better cricket than us so they won the game."