Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 30 (ANI): Following the Mumbai Indians (MI) loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), former Indian cricketer Saba Karim hailed opener Ryan Rickelton's century, saying that the left-hander's presence was important for the five-time champions in the middle-overs as they lost wickets.

Rickelton slammed MI's fastest century of just 44 balls and registered franchise's all-time highest individual score of 123* in 55 balls, with 10 fours and eight sixes against SRH, carrying his bat with the team total being 243/5. However, a 129-run opening stand from Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head and a fifty from Heinrich Klaasen rendered his century useless, joining Quinton de Kock, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sai Sudharsan, KL Rahul and Tilak Varma in an unfortunate list of this season, with them getting tons but not ending on the right side of results.

Having featured in six out of eight MI's matches, missing two clashes in favour of uncapped Indian opener Danish Malewar following a dip in form, Rickelton has made 260 runs in six innings at an average of 52.00 and a strike rate of over 181, with a century and fifty each to his name. He is MI's leading run-getter despite three single-digit scores in tournament so far and his patchy form reflects MI's batting performances as a unit so far in the tournament.

Speaking on ESPNCricinfo's 'Timeout' Show, Karim said that it is not easy for an overseas player to return into the playing XI and score so briskly and partnering well with opener Will Jacks, who scored a fiery 22-ball 46 in his first match of the tournament.

'I think it is not easy, especially for an overseas batter, to come in, do well, again get dropped. I can understand that, but for Ryan Rickelton to come back and score so briskly - he also realised, I am sure there has been a team talk, that we need to get a solid base in the powerplay. And I think both Will Jacks [the other opener] and Ryan Rickelton were able to provide that,' he said.

While Rickelton and Jacks managed to add 93 runs in 7.1 overs, the 'Travi-Shek' show in the second innings outshined their effort. Karim went on to compare Rickelton's technique with rising Punjab Kings (PBKS) star, Priyansh Arya.

'Ryan Rickelton is quite like Priyansh Arya - both of them are very steady, they don't step out to pace bowlers in the powerplay; they wait for the ball to come their way. And both of them have got a similar kind of a batswing when they try and hit on the on side. So again, all that was pitched in the slot, angling towards him, he was able to easily manoeuvre those shots towards the on side,' he said.

'But I think he's equally good against spinners. And I think that over of Harsh Dubey [the seventh, which went for 15 runs], Pat Cummins thought that maybe spinner can do the work. But Ryan Rickelton, and Will Jacks as well, to nullify that over, just goes to show that I think they had their plans laid out and they were able to execute,' he added.

Rickelton carried his bat to the end of the innings and did not slow down at all, reaching his half-century in 23 balls and reaching his century in 44 balls. Last 23 runs came in 11 balls, with some cameos from Hardik Pandya and Naman Dhir aiding Rickelton in gluing the innings together.

' Ryan Rickelton especially for him to continue, especially in the middle overs when they had lost SKY [Suryakumar Yadav, in the ninth over] very quickly and then Naman Dhir [22 in 17 balls] also didn't get off to a good start,' Karim said. 'I think Ryan Rickelton's presence was so important for MI,' he signed off.

Coming to the match, MI opted to bat first, with Will Jacks (46 in 22 balls, with five fours and three sixes) and Ryan Rickelton putting on an explosive 93-run stand. Rickelton stayed till the end, bringing his maiden IPL century and the fastest one for MI, stitching valuable partnerships with Naman Dhir (22 in 17 balls, with three fours) and skipper Hardik Pandya (31 in 15 balls, with two fours and two sixes). Ricketon carried his bat for 123* in 55 balls, with 10 fours and eight sixes, making sure that MI reached 243/5.

Praful Hinge (2/54) and Eshan Malinga (1/29) were standout bowlers for SRH.

During the chase, Travis Head roared back to form, scoring a 30-ball 76 (with four boundaries and eight sixes) and stitching a 129 run stand with Abhishek Sharma (45 in 24 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes). Despite slipping to 133/3 in 9.4 overs courtesy of Allah Ghazanfar (2/51) and Hardik Pandya (1/39), SRH chased down the target with Heinrich Klaasen (65* in 30 balls, with seven fours and four sixes) laying down the anchor with Nitish Kumar Reddy (21 in 17 balls, with three fours) for a 80-run stand and Salil Arora (30* in 10 balls, with two fours and three sixes) playing a fiery cameo.

SRH made a lightwork of the chase with six wickets and eight balls in hand, registering their sixth win of the season in nine matches and staying at third position with 12 points. MI is at the ninth spot and desperately needs to win their remaining matches to stay in the playoffs hunt. (ANI)