Royal Challengers Bengaluru ended a decade-long streak by defeating Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium for the first time since 2015 in an exhilarating, high-scoring match. The contest fluctuated back and forth, almost favoring the home team, but RCB managed to escape a precarious situation just in time, securing two crucial points on the road.
RCB land a blasting total yet again
The highly anticipated match commenced with an impressive opening. Phil Salt executed a magnificent cover drive on the very first ball, but Trent Boult quickly retaliated with an inswinger on the second delivery that knocked the stumps down. Virat Kohli greeted Jasprit Bumrah, making his tournament debut, by launching a six over midwicket. The RCB star displayed his aggressive intent throughout this phase, striking boundaries off Boult, Deepak Chahar, and Will Jacks. Devdutt Padikkal also joined in, aiming to make an impact as he hit consecutive sixes off Chahar, concluding a thrilling PowerPlay with an over that yielded 20 runs.
Kohli maintained his aggressive approach into the middle overs, executing a slog sweep off Vignesh Puthur for a six, reaching his fifty in just 29 balls. However, in the same over, Padikkal’s explosive innings of 37 runs off 22 balls came to an end when Jacks took a brilliant catch at the long-on boundary. This wicket allowed MI to tighten their grip on the game, resulting in a couple of quieter overs as the scoring rate dipped slightly below 10 runs per over. Mitchell Santner bowled three outstanding overs during this period, skillfully varying his pace and conceding only 20 runs. However, his fourth over, following the timeout, was met with a couple of sixes from Patidar and a four from Kohli. Hardik, coming off a five-wicket haul in his previous match, halted the duo’s momentum with a double-wicket over. He first had Kohli caught by Naman Dhir at deep square leg for 67 runs off 42 balls, and then dismissed Liam Livingstone, who was caught at short third for a duck. Both wickets were a result of Hardik maintaining a line outside the off stump.
Patidar took down his opposite number at the death. Hardik continued to bowl outside the off-stump but Patidar, who had already sized him up earlier, hit him out effectively. Hardik conceded two sixes and a four to Patidar and a boundary to Jitesh Sharma, who too arrived with the basic instruction of throwing his bat around, in a 23-run over. Bumrah still got the respect from the pair as they took six singles in the 18th over, but made up for it against Boult. The New Zealander conceded 18 in the 16th and then got hit for two sixes by Jitesh in the 19th, but soon saw the back of Patidar for a 32-ball 64, courtesy an incredible diving catch from wicketkeeper Ryan Rickleton who first covered a lot of ground running towards the fence behind him. Bumrah bowled another excellent over at the death – the 20th – even as Jitesh managed to collect a six off it to finish with a stirring cameo of 40* from 19 deliveries.
Mumbai try their best to get over the line, but still fail
Rohit Sharma’s disappointing season persisted as he attempted to change his fortunes with a pull shot over square leg and a push down the ground. However, Yash Dayal ended his innings with a full inswinging delivery that struck the stumps after deflecting off an inside edge. Ryan Rickleton soon followed, dismissed after a successful review for a leg before wicket against Josh Hazlewood. The left-handed batsman was hit on the back leg, but even Hazlewood was uncertain if the ball had pitched in line. Jitesh, running in from behind the stumps, indicated where the ball might have bounced and persuaded Patidar to request a review. This decision proved fruitful as the on-field ruling was overturned. Hazlewood then delivered an outstanding sixth over, skillfully varying his lengths against Suryakumar Yadav, allowing only two runs.
RCB took a risk by introducing Suyash Sharma against a player like Suryakumar, known for his prowess against spin, but the leg-spinner emerged victorious in this contest. He effectively avoided Suryakumar’s hitting zone and bowled according to his field placements and the unique dimensions of the ground, conceding just 15 runs in three overs, thereby shifting the momentum away from MI. Both Suryakumar and Jacks attempted to exploit the shorter leg side boundary against him, but Suyash bowled at a brisk pace of up to 104 km/h and outside the off-stump, consistently outsmarting both batsmen.
Meanwhile, Krunal Pandya faced some challenges, allowing three fours in his opening over but rebounded in his second. He surprised Jacks with a short ball, clocking 117 km/h, which was pulled but caught by Kohli at deep backward square leg. Suryakumar, who had difficulty finding his rhythm, was dropped twice before Livingstone finally caught his third attempt at mid-off. RCB seemed poised to dominate the middle overs until Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya joined forces. Tilak, having been retired out in the previous match due to his struggles, aggressively targeted Suyash, while Hardik ruthlessly attacked Hazlewood, scoring 6, 4, 6, 4 in a single over that yielded 22 runs. Hardik continued his assault on Krunal, hitting two sixes in the following over for an additional 19 runs, reducing the target to a manageable 65 runs off 30 balls.
By the time MI got to the death overs, the tide had well and truly turned in their direction. But three overs of absolute pulverizing batting was followed by the kind of accuracy from Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood that turned the fixture on its head. They both nailed their yorkers and slower ones to take out both the set batters and derail MI right at the end. Tilak was first to miscue a slower one from Bhuvneshwar to fall for a 29-ball 56 before Hardik hit a yorker length ball from Hazlewood to Livingstone at deep midwicket. The equation of 28 off 12 was down to 19 off 6 but Patidar was out of fast bowling options and had to rely on Krunal. The experienced spinner took out Mitchell Santner and Deepak Chahar – off a fantastic combined catch at the boundary line by Salt and Tim David. Krunal then closed the game out with another wicket – making it his best returns in the IPL – off the last ball with MI falling short by 12 runs
SCORECARD: Royal Challengers Bengaluru 221/5 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 67, Rajat Patidar 64, Jitesh Sharma 40*; Jasprit Bumrah 0-29) beat Mumbai Indians 209/9 in 20 overs (Tilak Varma 56, Hardik Pandya 42; Krunal Pandya 4-45) by 12 runs
