Bangalore 151-4 (Rahul 68; Pandya 1-15)
Mumbai 153-4 (Rayudu 44; Aaron 2-37)
Mumbai Indians win by 6 wickets.
The much vaunted batting line-up of Royal Challengers Bangalore did not bring their ‘A’ game to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday night as they got crushed by an inspired Mumbai Indians side in what could prove to be a crucial game in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
After being sent in by opposition captain Rohit Sharma, Bangalore got off to the worst-possible start losing Chris Gayle (5) and Virat Kohli (7) – two of the team’s most trusted batsmen.
AB de Villiers (24) and Shane Watson (15), the remaining two of the four superstars, offered hope with cameos and gave good company to Lokesh Rahul, but their dismissals meant it was on the young India Test opener to carry the burden of posting a competitive total.
That Rahul did as he scored an unbeaten 68 off just 53 deliveries, hitting four sixes and three fours, as he and that livewire Sachin Baby put on 53 runs to see out their quota of 20 overs.
It was tough going for both batsmen on a wicket that had little in it for the seamers, yet was exploited so well by the spinners – in particular slow left-armer Krunal Pandya and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.
Just the one over from all-rounder Kieron Pollard cost Mumbai 22 runs, else it was an admirable performance by Rohit’s men on a hot evening.
Mumbai’s efforts to chase down 151 was never going to be easy, given both these teams were playing for fourth place in the IPL table, even if Bangalore did not have the teeth in their bowling.
Mumbai lost Parthiv Patel (1) after which successive batsmen arrived at the crease to knit together decent partnerships – mostly batting around Ambati Rayudu (44).
There were moments for Bangalore to capitalise on, but at the end it was not a total imposing enough as Mumbai cantered to a crucial win. Captain Kohli made the concession, too.
“We weren’t in the game at all till the 15th over, but good work from KL [Rahul] and Sachin to pull us back,” he said. “But it was still asking too much from the bowlers. We were around 20 runs short.”
Pandya was named Man of the Match for figures of one for 15.
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