New Delhi:
If one had to sum up the two sides in two words, it could probably be done saying ‘lucky’ and ‘unlucky’ for Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore respectively. The blunder from on-field umpire S Ravi, made Mumbai Indians win their first win of the tournament as they upstaged Royal Challengers Bangalore by 6 runs at the M. Chinnaswamy, Bangalore.
The Challengers didn’t hesitate to field first after winning the toss and the visiting team put up a significant score of 187 on the board. The openers- Rohit Sharma and de Kock – complied an opening stand of 54 runs from 39 balls. Yuzvendra Chahal cleaned up the latter for 23 to break the stand. Rohit threatened with a 33-ball 48, but his prized wicket was taken by Umesh Yadav.
Suryakumar Yadav didn’t flatter to deceive and he contributed with a useful 38 from 24 with four fours and one six. However, it was Yuvraj Singh, who gave the crowd a lot to cheer for with a knock of 23 from 12. The southpaw smacked three sixes in a row off Chahal, who ended up with an impressive four-wicket haul. Hardik Pandya chipped in with 32 from 14 deliveries to propel the visitor’s score.
Parthiv Patel and Moeen Alli found the boundaries and added 27 for the first wicket. It was a stupendous direct-hit from Rohit that sent Moeen packing at a score of 13. Thereafter, Virat Kohli took charge and upped the run-rate, taking on premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah. But the pacer made amends and dismissed Kohli after he scored 46 from 32 with six awe-inspiring boundaries.
After Virat’s dismissal, the onus was on AB de Villiers to shepherd the team home. The former Proteas batsman strained a little against Mayank Markande, but got into his own and accomplished his half-century in 31 balls. In the last two overs, RCB needed 22 runs and ABD got his team ever so close to the target, but unfortunately, his valiant efforts of 70 runs from 41 balls went in vain.
Virat Kohli expressed his disappointment in the post-match presentation, but was that enough? Probably will never be.
