MUMBAI RIDES ON THREE INDIANS
Bumrah, Kishan and Surya guide MI to a 7-wicket win over RCB
Mumbai Indians notched up an emphatic seven-wicket win over a woeful Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL here on Thursday. Jasprit Bumrah, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav orchestrated the thumping victory with their pyrotechnics. The trio also helped Mumbai record its second successive win and lift it to seventh in the table, while RCB slumped to ninth with just a sole win in six matches.
Set to chase 197, MI raced to victory with 27 balls to spare thanks to marauding innings from Kishan 69 (34b,
7x4, 5x6) and a brutal assault from Surya that culminated in a spectacular 52 (19b, 5x4, 4x6). Towards the end, captain Hardik Pandya struck three sixes, while Tilak Varma caressed three boundaries to boost their team’s net run rate.
Earlier, Bumrah weaved his magic en route to a five-wicket haul before Dinesh Karthik played a blinder in the death overs to take Royal Challengers Bengaluru to 196/8.
Faf du Plessis (61) and Rajat Patidar (50) also played an important role in ensuring RCB get close to the 200-run mark. Karthik (53 not out off 23 balls) produced just the kind of knock RCB needed towards the end of the innings.
In a contest where his fellow pacers erred consistently, Bumrah’s accuracy and mastery over variation helped him rule the roost once again.
Mixing up his fiery yorkers perfectly with sharp bouncers, Bumrah snaffled the in-form Virat Kohli (3) early on to extend his ordinary run at the Wankhede Stadium while playing the IPL. Du Plessis and Patidar banished their poor run with their respective half-centuries while putting on 82 runs for the third wicket, but Bumrah, who bowled three overs post the halfway mark, seemed to have broken the back of RCB’s resistance with a terrific spell. But Karthik, who took a liking for Akash Madhwal (1/57) to collect 38 runs off his two overs, finished with five fours and four sixes.
Kohli perished in Bumrah’s first over when he got an inside edge off a wild swipe with Ishan Kishan taking a fine diving catch.
Will Jacks (8) began promisingly on debut but played one straight to Tim David at midon off Madhwal as RCB slipped early on but du Plessis took them to 44/2 in the powerplay.
BRIEF SCORES: RCB 196/8 in 20 overs (F du Plessis 61, D Karthik 53*, R Patidar 50, J Bumrah 5/21) lost to Mumbai Indians 199/3 in 15.3 overs (I Kishan 69, Suryakumar 52)