Rawat, Kohli team up to prolong MI misery

CHANDIGARH: At 50/1 in the ninth over, and with their chase of their 152-run target meandering a bit, Virat Kohli the chase master arrived. This IPL had fetched only modest returns for Royal Challengers Bangalore’s talisman but Saturday’s game against Mumbai Indians was perfect for him to stamp his authority. The tie had been billed a Kohli versus Rohit Sharma clash, but with Sharma falling for 26, his team was restricted to 151/7 in Pune.

Kohli entered as new skipper Faf du Plessis walked back after managing 16 off 24 balls. Young opener Anuj Rawat too hadn’t settled down. A quick chat between the two—Rawat incidentally trains under Kohli’s coach Raj Kumar Sharma at his West Delhi academy—and Kohli was off. A boundary here and there and soon RCB had brought up their 100 in the 14th over. Kohli and Rawat raised an 80-run partnership as RCB eased towards their third win in four games.

Kohli’s knock (48 off 36 balls) combined with Rawat’s 66 (47b, 2x4, 6x6) set up the sevenwicket win. Rawat just followed in Kohli’s footsteps. He opened up and played his shots, going past his fifty, but all eyes were on Kohli, who batted risk-free. The one chance Kohli gave, Dewald Brevis dropped. Barring that he was in control. The half-century didn’t come but with his side in flow, his fans would want more from his blade.

Rawat, who had shared a picture with Kohli on social media ahead of the game suggesting that he had been taking batting tips in the training sessions, hogged the spotlight. Rawat made most of the opportunity and hit lusty sixes as Kohli gave a pat on his back. Using the crease well, Rawat kept going for shots until he was run out to a direct hit from Ramandeep Singh.

This was Mumbai Indians’ fourth successive loss, like Chennai Super Kings had suffered earlier in the day. Clearly it has been a downhill journey early in the season for IPL’s top two teams. Sharma fell for a 15-ball 26, again failing to convert his start. Fellow opener Ishan Kishan laboured to a 28-ball 26 as MI failed to find the initial thrust.

But what followed was shocking as they collapsed from 50 for none to 79 for 6. What once was their strength, the middle order, is now MI’s biggest weakness. With Sharma and Kishan gone, Dewald Brevis, Kieron

Pollard and Tilak Varma (both without scoring), and Ramandeep fell in a heap.

Surya Kumar Yadav (68* 37b, 5x4, 6x6), probably India’s safest T20 batsman, was unflinching and got Jaydev Unadkat (13*) to hang in there. Yadav revelled in the tight situation, timing his shots well. RCB pacer Mohammed Siraj went for 23 in the 19th over. But all that could only take Mumbai just past 150, ultimately too less. Wanindu Hasaranga (4-0-28-2) and Harshal Patel (4-0-23-2) were the pick of RCB bowlers.

151/6 in 20 overs (S Yadav 68 not out; H Patel 2/23) lost to

152/3 in 18.3 overs (A Rawat 66, V Kohli 48)

BCCI Virat Kohli scored 48 against Mumbai Indians on Saturday.