Mumbai reach IPL playoffs
Royal Challengers Bangalore opting to bat put up 162 for eight, with the help of skipper Sharma’s 56 off 37 balls Mumbai Indians surpassed easily
MUMBAI: Skipper Rohit Sharma played a sublime knock to lead Mumbai Indians to a five-wicket win over laggards Royal Challengers Bangalore, ensuring themselves of a berth at the IPL playoffs, here on Sunday.
RCB, opting to bat, put up 162 for eight with AB de Villiers hammering 43 off 27 balls.
It was a rather straightforward chase for Mumbai as the home team reeled off 59 runs in the last six overs, courtesy some crisp hitting from Rohit, who ended with 56 off 37 balls.
Hardik Pandya remained unbeaten with the captain, scoring 14 off nine balls.
With the win at Wankhede, Mumbai moved to the top of the points table with eight wins out of 10 games fetching them 16 points.
On the other hand, it was another disappointing performance from the star-studded RCB, who are very much out of contention for a play-off berth. The loss was their eighth in 11 matches.
Fittingly, Rohit hit the winning runs, a cracking drive past mid-off.
It was one of the six boundaries he hit alongside a maximum.
The quick start to the chase was provided by Jos Buttler (33 off 21) and Nitish Rana (27 off 28) after Parthiv Patel was out for a first ball duck.
Earlier, Mitchell McClenaghan claimed three wickets as Mumbai Indians produced a disciplined bowling performance to restrict RCB to a modest total.
Besides McClenaghan (3/34), Krunal Pandya (2/34) took two wickets, while Karn Sharma (1/23) and Jasprit Bumrah (1/33) accounted for wicket apiece.
For RCB, de Villiers emerged as the top-scorer after he blasted three fours and as many sixes during his 27-ball innings, while Pawan Negi (35) and Kedar Jadhav (28) provided the late charge to take the team past the 150-mark.
RCB lost their first wicket in the fourth over when Mandeep Singh (17) went for the slog sweep and was caught by Hardik.
In the sixth over, McClenaghan removed Virat Kohli (20) when the RCB skipper flicked a slower ball straight to short midwicket and Rohit took a simple catch, reducing the visitors slipped to 40 for two.