Pacer Alzarri Joseph became the latest West Indian to announce his arrival to the Indian Premier League in grand fashion after producing a record-breaking bowling performance to lead Mumbai Indians to a 40 runs win over Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Joseph, playing in his debut match, bagged a career best 6 for 12 in 3.4 overs to break the previous IPL record of 6 for 14 set by Sohail Tanvir in the tournament’s inaugural edition in 2008.
His destructive effort with the ball saw Sunrisers being skittled out for just 96 – their lowest ever total – in their chase of 137 for victory.
It also broke the previous best on IPL debut 5 for 17 by Andrew Tye in 2017.
Joseph, named Player of The Match, now becomes just the 7th bowler to take a wicket off his first ball on IPL debut and only the second to do so with a wicket-maiden over.
The 22 year old claimed two wickets off his first two overs, bowling David Warner off his inside edge with his first ever IPL ball, before having Vijay Shankar caught at point off a top edge soon after the Powerplay ended.
His two wickets off successive deliveries in the 16th over, definitively swung the game in Mumbai’s direction. He bowled Deepak Hooda with a full, straight delivery, which the batsman inside-edged onto his stumps. Next ball, Rashid Khan was rushed into a pull shot, which the batsman could do no better than top edge – Joseph himself running through to take a simple chance.
The final two wickets were almost just a bonus. Bhuvneshwar Kumar had his middle stump pegged back by another full, straight one. Four balls later, No. 10 batsman Siddarth Kaul was caught behind trying to run Joseph to third man.
Earlier Mumbai batting first slumped to 97 for 7 after 17 overs before Windies all-rounder Kieron Pollard blasted an unbeaten 46 off 26 balls to lift them to 136 for 7.
Final scores: Mumbai Indians 136 for 6, Sunrisers Hyderabad 96 all out.
Mumbai who are 4th on net run rate, are in a four-way tie with Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab on 6 points.
Defending champions Chennai Super Kings lead the table on 8 points after beating Kings XI Punjab by 22 runs.