A flat Wankhede Stadium pitch was host to a high scoring matchup between the Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday night. In the end, the 199 posted by RCB wasn’t even close to enough as the Indian won with 7 wickets in hand and 27 balls to spare.
Jaspreet Bumrah was the star with the ball for the Indians, taking five wickets for just 21 runs. His four overs was especially impressive when compared to all other bowlers from both teams, who struggled to keep the runs from flowing. His heroics with the ball awarded him the Man of the Match award and put him amongst the highest wicket takers in the tournament thus far.
When it was Mumbai’s turn to bat, everyone chipped in. First, Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma got their team off to a terrific start with a 101-run partnership. Kishan scored a breezy 69 off 34 balls which included five 6s and seven 4s. Sharma played a relatively calmer innings of 38 off 24 but still managed six boundaries.
Suryakumar Yadav then entered the middle and scored a rapid 50 off just 17 balls. The innings took away any chance RCB had to pull the match back and ended with a comprehensive victory with almost 5 overs to spare.
Match Summary
Mumbai won the toss and elected to field first, giving their opponent the chance to set a total for them to chase. RCB got off to a rocky start thanks to Bumrah, who got Kohli swiping and edging one behind for three off nine balls in his first over. In the next over, Akash Madhwal pushed back debutant Will Jacks with pace and had him caught mid-on for eight. Finding themselves 23 for 2 in the fourth over, Faf du Plessis and Rajat Patidar came together in the middle.
The two tried to salvage what was left of the powerplay but had to be careful in their approach to not lose another wicket. Both players ended up opening up later though and scored half centuries to rebuild the RCB innings.
Patidar scored his 50 off just 26 balls and brought it up with back-to-back sixes off Gerald Coetzee Unfortunately he couldn’t keep it going for his team, getting out to a bouncer the very next ball.
The key wicket of Glenn Maxwell was taken for 0 after just 4 balls by Shreyas Gopal leg-before to ensure there weren’t any fireworks from the Australian.
Dinesh Karthik came out to the cheers of his old crowd as a former member of the Indians. He took the opportunity to play a fantastic innings which included a number of sensational shots. He was not out at the end of the innings, scoring a quick-fire 53 off 23 balls to get his team to 196/8.
While the total would’ve been a big one on many other grounds, at Wankhede everyone had the feeling that it was about 20 runs shy.
Ishan Kishan got the Indians off to a rollicking start, taking apart the new ball bowlers Mohammed Siraj and Reece Topley. He scored a brilliant 50 within the powerplay and set up the Indians to cruise to victory with relative ease. Rohit Sharma supported him from the other end and attacked when needed to keep the runs flowing.
Akash Deep eventually stopped Kishan for 69 and Jacks removed Rohit for 38. This only ignited the innings to go faster however as Yadav entered and immediately took on the bowlers. He did give one chance on 15 but Maxwell dropped him at backward points which proved to be very expensive.
Yadav scored a scorching fast 50 off just 17 balls and got the match within striking distance for his team. After holing out in the deep, captain Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma sealed a big win with some big hitting to end the match.
Next up for the Mumbai Indians will be the Chennai Super Kings this Sunday at home. The Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to get back on track back at home at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
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