Kohli returns to form but Bangalore lose to Gujarat; Mumbai post first win of the season
MUMBAI: Fine rearguard innings by Rahul Tewatia and David Miller, who shared an unbeaten 79-run partnershipforthefithwicket,helpedgujarattitans beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets in Match 43 of IPL 2022 at the Brabourne Stadium here on Saturday.
Tewatia scored an unbeaten 42 while Miller remained not out with 39 as Gujarat came back strongly to score 174/4 in 19.3 overs ater restricting Royal Challengers Bangalore to 170/6 in their 20 overs fuelled by Virat Kohli, who scored his first halfcentury of IPL 2022, and Rajat Patidar (52) ater RCB elected to bat first.
Tewatia and Miller ensured that Gujarat did not lose any further wickets and romped to a six-wicket for their eighth win in nine matches. Gujarat thus moved to 16 points from nine matches and extended their lead at the top of the standings to four points. RCB remained at the fith position, with 10 points from 10 games.
Earlier, Gujarat Titans ended the power-play with 46runsfornolossontheboardwithwriddhimansaha and Shubman Gill keeping up a decent scoring rate.
Saha, who struck Mohammed Siraj for two fours in an over, was the first to get out, caught by Rajat Patidar off a wrong-un bowled by Wanindu Hasaranga with the score 51.
Gill was the next to go, given lbw off Shahbaz Ahmed, missing the ball completely. He reviews the decision but the video replays show no involvement of the bat.
Skipper Hardik Pandya also had an off day as he tried to whip away a full-length delivery by Shahbaz but could offer only the botom edge and sent it straight down the throat of Mahipal Lomror. And when Sai Sudarshan too departed ater geting a start, caught by substitute Anuj Rawat (20), who was keepingwicketsinplaceofdineshkarthikwhowasill, it looked like Gujarat were slipping into a deep gorge.
However,davidmillerandrahultewatiacameto the rescue of Gujarat Titans as they raised a superb unbeaten 79-run partnership for the fith wicket and guided the team from Ahmedabad home with six wickets in hand.
Miller struck Hasaranga for a four followed by a six in the 15th over and cracked a brilliant cover drive off a cuter on good length by Harshal Patel.
Tewatia,too,hadstartedcautiouslybeforeexploding into action towards the end of the innings. He hammered a six and a four on successive balls off Josh Hazlewood in the 18th over -- the six a superb flick over fine-leg -- and ended the over with another four, placing the ball between two fielders around deep square leg boundary.
Tewatia, who struck Harshal Patel over extra cover for a superb six, ended the match with fours offhazlewoodinthe20thover.theirunbeatenpartnership of 79 runs came off 40 balls and propelled Gujarat Titans to their eighth victory in nine matches.
Kohli,formerindiaandroyalchallengerscaptain who was advised by former team India coach Ravi Shastri to take a break from IPL to revitalise his batting, gave glimpses of a welcome return to form as he struck a fine half-century and raised 99 runs for the second wicket partnership with Rajat Patidar, who struck 52 off 32 deliveries as the two set up a good plaform for RCB. It was Mumbai’s first win in their ninth game of the ongoing IPL 2022 season. On the other hand, Rajasthan are at the second spot with six wins in nine matches.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians restricted Rajasthan Royals to 158/6 in 20 overs despite a fine fity from Jos Butler (67 off 52) ater winning the toss and opting to bowl first.
Apart from Butler, Ravichandran Ashwin (21 off 9) was the main contributor with the bat for Rajasthan. The likes of Devdut Padikkal (15), Sanju Samson (16) and Daryl Mitchell (17) got good starts but failed to convert them to big innings.
Riley Meredith (2/24), Hrithik Shokeen (2/47), Daniel Sams (1/32), Kumar Kartikeya (1/19) were the wicket-takers for Mumbai.
In reply, Suryakumar Yadav hit a fine fity (51 off 39), while Tilak Varma (35 off 30), Ishan Kishan (26 off 18) and Tim David also made valuable contributions with the bat as Mumbai chased down the target in 19.2 overs with five wickets in hand.