Hardik charge takes MI past RCB
MUMBAI: With four clean but brutal hits, Hardik Pandya pushed Royal Challengers Bangalore on the precipice of an embarrassing IPL exit as they slumped to their seventh win in eight matches. Pawan Negi was given the ball with Mumbai Indians requiring 22 off 12. Hardik’s first attempt at clearing the park was a swing and miss but he connected the next four, clubbing Negi for a six over long-on, two fours through extracover and midwicket before clearing the long-on boundary again. Mumbai Indians won by five wickets with an over to spare.
On most summer days, an Indian Premier League (IPL) match is the highlight of a cricket discussion. But with the BCCI announcing a 15-member India squad for the World Cup Monday afternoon, this game ran the risk of becoming a footnote. Pandya’s innings however lit up the night as 35,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium were treated to a double treat after a vintage 51-ball 75 from AB de Villiers that had taken RCB to 171 for seven.
But the total looked less threatening once Mumbai Indians’ opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock put on 70 in 7.1 overs. Both fell in the same over but Ishan Kishan’s breezy nineball 21 gave Mumbai enough time to chase down the total.
Earlier, the South African had come out to bat with RCB losing skipper Virat Kohli in the third over of the innings. He began by weathering an over of high class
by Jasprit Bumrah who hit an unplayable length in his first over, making de Villiers look all at sea against the incoming deliveries. He finally got going with the introduction of leg-spinner Rahul Chahar who he swept for a boundary. Though he hit a topedged six off Hardik Pandya, de Villiers’ battles with Lasith Malinga and Bumrah — two of the best death bowlers — were the most entertaining. Malinga, who returned to the side after missing a few games due to his commitments in Sri Lanka’s provincial domestic ODI tournament, returned his best figures – 4/31 — this season. His three wickets in the last over of the innings were the reason Mumbai could restrict the visitors below 180.
Before that though de Villiers had taken a liking to his bowling, clobbering a monstrous six off him over the square-leg fence in the 15th over. The shot that stood out though was the one where he went down on his knee and scooped Malinga over the longleg fence. The 35-year-old showed similar class against Bumrah as well when in the 19th over, he carved a yorker through covers. He got ample support from England’s Moeen Ali who too hit some lusty blows on his way to a 32-ball 50.
MI had won the toss and asked Mumbai Indians to bat. Jason Behrendorff, who was named in Australia’s 15-member World Cup squad early on Monday, celebrated it by accounting for the India skipper cheaply. The lanky pacer, who has a knack of taking wickets up front, got the ball to rise from a good length spot and find the inside edge of Kohli’s bat in his second over.