Bengaluru: Lasith Malinga who landed hours ago before the match was handed over the responsibility to defend 16 runs in last over against Royal Challengers and he rightly did so. Mumbai Indians successfully defended their 187 in a high scoring match on Thursday.
The fireworks of AB de Villiers (70 off 41 balls) went in vain. Man-of-the-Match Jasprit Bumrah was the star with the ball for Mumbai Indians.
However, Mumbai may have benefitted from an umpiring howler. With 7 to defend off the last ball, umpire S. Ravi failed to notice bowler Malinga overstepping the crease.
With 188 to get, it was an inauspicious start for hosts as Moeen Ali was run out for 13. Virat Kohli opened his account with a pull towards vacant mid-on region off Jasprit Bumrah’s bowling. Kohli struck two more boundaries in that over, indicating his intentions. At the end of the power play, RCB were scoring at 10 runs per over.
A partisan crowd of Chinnaswamy Stadium roared the arrival of AB de Villiers. Mumbai Indians would have tightened their grip had Yuvraj Singh held a relatively easy catch of AB de Villiers when latter was hadn’t opened his account.
Jasprit Bumrah, finally got the better of his national skipper when Virat was undone by a short ball by the bowler. AB de Villiers, showcased his prowess with the bat again as he smashed 20 runs off Lasith Malinga’s bowling, giving his team a chance to chase down 41 in last four overs.
The South African legend hit Hardik Pandya for 18 runs in the 18th over.
With all pacers conceding over 10 runs per over, Jasprit Bumrah was the sole bright spot for Mumbai Indians as his four overs resulted in mere 20 runs while he took three vital wickets.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians got to a decent start thanks to their openers Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock as the duo stitched 52 runs for the first wicket.
Scorecard
Mumbai Indians: Quinton de Kock b Chahal 23, Rohit Sharma c Siraj b Umesh 48, Suryakumar Yadav c Moeen b Chahal 38, Yuvraj Singh c Siraj b Chahal 23, Kieron Pollard c Hetmyer b Chahal 5, Krunal Pandya c Saini b Umesh 1, Hardik Pandya not out 32, Mitchell McClenaghan b Siraj 1, Mayank Markande c Patel b Siraj 6, Jasprit Bumrah not out 0. Extras (b-4, lb-1, w-4, nb-1) 10. Total (for 8 wkts in 20 overs) 187.
FoW: 1-54, 2-87, 3-124, 4-142, 5-145, 6-146, 7-147, 8-172.
Bowling: Umesh Yadav 4-0-26-2, Navdeep Saini 4-0-40-0, Mohammed Siraj 4-0-38-2, Yuzvendra Chahal 4-0-38-4, Colin de Grandhomme 3-0-27-0, Moeen Ali 1-0-13-0.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Parthiv Patel b Markande 31, Moeen Ali run out 13, Virat Kohli c Hardik Pandya b Bumrah 46, AB de Villiers not out 70, Shimron Hetmyer c Hardik Pandya b Bumrah 5, Colin de Grandhomme c Krunal Pandya b Bumrah 2, Shivam Dube not out 9. Extras (lb-2, w-3) 5. Total (for 5 wkts in 20 overs) 181.
FoW: 1-27, 2-67, 3-116, 4-147, 5-169,
Bowling: McClenaghan 2-0-24-0, Malinga 4-0-47-0, Bumrah 4-0-20-3, Hardik Pandya 3-0-37-0, Krunal Pandya 4-0-28-0, Markande 3-0-23-1
