IPL 2017 RCB vs MI: Kieron Pollard's blitz powers Mumbai Indians to victory

Bengaluru: Samuel Badree’s hat-trick went in vain as fellow West Indian Kieron Pollard (70 off 47 balls) scored his first fifty of this IPL season to power Mumbai Indians defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by four wickets here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday.

Chasing 143 runs to win, MI were reduced to 10-4 as Badree, who was playing his first game for RCB, scalped a hat-trick in the 3^rd over. To make the matters worse, Nitish Rana, who had scored 50 and 45 in his last two appearances for MI, got out for 11 as MI were 33/5 from 8 overs.

However, Pollard and Krunal put up a 93-run stand to set up a four-wicket win.

Earlier, MI bowlers put up their hands to restrict RCB to 142 despite comeback man Virat Kohli’s brisk 62. While Mitchell McClenaghan scalped two wickets, Harbhajan Singh and Krunal conceded just 44 runs from their 8 overs to deny RCB a chance to run away with advantage.

Mumbai Indians 133/6 from 18 overs

WICKET! Chahal removes Pollard. But is it too little too late for RCB?

Mumbai Indians 120/5 from 17 overs:

Pollard has brought up his first fifty in IPL 10 and Krunal has kept his wits. MI are well and truly favourites to win this one.

Mumbai Indians 65/5 from 12 overs:

Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya are keeping Mumbai Indians in this game. Will the big West Indian played a biggie today?

Mumbai Indians 33/5 from 8 overs:

WICKET! Badree has another. Nitish Rana gets out on the final ball of the Badree spell. What a stunning piece of bowling this is from the West Indian. 4-1-9-4 reads his bowling spell.

Mumbai Indians 8/4 from 3 overs:

HAT-TRICK! This is unbelievable stuff from Samuel Badree! He is playing his first game for RCB and he has made sure he leaves a big impression. Parthiv Patel, Mitchell McClenaghan and Rohit Sharma will take a while to recover from this. RCB are off to a brilliant start while defending a modest total.

Mumbai Indians 7/1 from 2 overs:

WICKET! Stuart Binny has given RCB their first breakthrough as Jos Buttler chips one to mid-wicket.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 142/5 from 20 overs

Mumbai Indians have done a fabulous job to restrict RCB to 142 despite Kohli's 62. RCB could only score 32 runs in the last five overs. Solid effort from MI bowlers.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 132/5 from 19 overs

WICKET! Mitchell McClenaghan has added one more wicket to his account as he sends Manpreet Singh packing. MI all over RCB here.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 127/4 from 18 overs

WICKET! Stunning work from Jasprit Bumrah. Direct hit to end Kedar Jadhav's innings. Run out on a free-hit delivery.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 119/3 from 17 overs

WICKET! Outstanding catch from Rohit Sharma! AB de Villiers departs off Krunal Pandya's bowling for the 3rd time. Mumbai Indians have pushed RCB on backfoot.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 114/2 from 16 overs

WICKET! Just when it seemed RCB were running away with the advantage, Kohli got out. Jos Buttler made sure he did not drop one. McClenaghan gets a big wicket.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 110/1 from 15 overs

MI have messed up in the field as Jos Buttler drops AB de Villiers and the South African has hit a six following that miss. Ominous signs for MI as Kohli has marched past fifty.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 66/1 from 10 overs

WICKET! Hardik Pandya has struck as Mumbai Indians get their first breakthrough. Chris Gayle did not look comfortable and was batting slow by his standards. The pressure seems to have gotten to him.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 34/0 from 5 overs:

It's Kohli show! Virat Kohli is on fire and so is RCB. He was short on runs against Australia and the injury meant that he could not play in the first few games for RCB.

Bengaluru: Mumbai Indians have won the toss and elected to bowl against Royal Challengers Bangalore as Virat Kohli makes a comeback after recovering from the shoulder injury he sustained during the third India versus Australia Test in Ranchi.

RCB have made a couple of changes to their team as Chris Gayle and Samuel Badree are picked. Shane Watson, who captained the team, and Billy Stanlake fail to make the cut.

(Photo: IPL Twitter)

MI, meanwhile, are forced to make a change to their winning combination as Lasith Malinga is ruled out of the game due to illness. New Zealand's Tim Southee will replace the Sri Lankan speedster in the team.

(Photo: IPL Twitter)

All eyes will be on Virat Kohli as Royal Challengers Bangalore, having won just a game in Indian Premier League season 10, take on Mumbai Indians at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Friday.

The last year’s finalist, although holding their nerve in a low-scoring thriller against Delhi Daredevils, have struggled this season in absence of their skipper; no matter whether they are batting first or chasing down the total. However, with him making a comeback after recovering from the injury bolsters team’s hopes and more importantly adds a tremendous edge to their batting. Kohli’s comeback, in addition to AB de Villiers and Kedar Jadhav’s presence, will make RCB stronger again.

However, it won’t be an easy task as they face Rohit Sharma-led MI which had bounced back after tasting a loss in their opening game. While Rohit has struggled in all the games, the youngsters – Nitish Rana, Krunal Pandya and Hardik Pandya – have played a big role in MI’s two wins in a row.

While MI will want the trio to keep contributing, it will also want Kieron Pollard and Rohit to come up with a  better show with the bat. Their bowling though, unlike RCB’s patchy bowling performances, has looked good as Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh, Jasprit Bumrah have delivered when the team needed them the most.

All and all, cricket fans will have an exciting battle to look forward to.

Squads:

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB):

Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Kedar Jadhav, Mandeep Singh, Shane Watson, Travis Head, Sachin Baby, Stuart Binny, Pawan Negi, Yuzvendra Chahal, Tymal Mills, Sreenath Aravind, Aniket Choudhary, Harshal Patel, Adam Milne, Iqbal Abdulla, Samuel Badree, Avesh Khan, Tabraiz Shamsi, Praveen Dubey, Billy Stanlake.

Mumbai Indians (MI):

Rohit Sharma (captain), Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Gopal, Lendl Simmons, Vinay Kumar, Parthiv Patel, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nitish Rana, Siddhesh Lad, J Suchith, Hardik Pandya, Jos Buttler, Tim Southee, Jithesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Punia, Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Johnson, K Gowtham, Karn Sharma, Saurabh Tiwary, A Gunarathna, K Khejroliya.