SURYA SHINES
Mumbai rap RCB, rock their way to second win
Mumbai, April 11: Mumbai Indians defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru by seven wickets in the IPL here on Thursday.
RCB managed to reach to 196 for 8 despite Jasprit Bumrah’s five-wicket haul. While Faf du Plessis made 61 off 40 balls, Rajat Patidar hit 50 off 26 balls. Towards the end, Dinesh Karthik made a 23-ball unbeaten 53-run cameo to take RCB to a competitive total.
Chasing, Ishan Kishan blasted a 34-ball 69, while Suryakumar Yadav scored a 19-ball 52 as MI overwhelmed the target in 15.3 overs.
Earlier, Bumrah weaved his magic enroute to a five-wicket haul.
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 halfcenturies 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 mid-on off Madhwal as RCB slipped early on but du Plessis took them to 44/2 in the powerplay.
A little tentative at start, Patidar grew in confidence for his first fifty of the season.
Patidar also had the bragging rights of playing the shot of the innings when he picked
the length of a Pandya delivery early to send the ball flying into the second tier, wide of long-on.
He did not relent when Gerald Coetzee (1/42) came on for his second over, hitting the Proteas bowler for two consecutive sixes but fell immediately after.
Glenn Maxwell's (0) role was crucial since RCB needed the Australian to go big in their bid to get a big total, but he became Shreyas Gopal’s (1/32) 50th IPL victim, pinned leg-before while playing across the line.