Mumbai, April 13 (IANS) Superb all-round bowling by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru strangled Mumbai Indians’ hopes of successfully mounting the highest-ever chase at the Wankhede, as the visitors romped to an 18-run victory in Match 20 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Sunday.
RCB rode on brilliant, blazing half-centuries by Phil Salt (78) and Rajat Patidar (53) and a sedate fifty by Virat Kohli to post 240/4 in 20 overs. Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma came up with some fine efforts with the ball on a pitch that offered little assistance and capitalised on the scoreboard pressure to restrict the Mumbai Indians to 222/5.
Sherfane Rutherford’s valiant 31-ball 71 and his 68-run partnership with Mitchell Santner (8) went in vain as the Mumbai Indians slumped to their third successive defeat. But the bigger concern for the five-time champions would be the hamstring injury suffered by former champion and opener Rohit Sharma, who had to walk off retired hurt in the sixth over.
RCB won their third game in four matches and moved up to six points and the third spot in the points table behind Rajasthan Royals (8) and Punjab Kings (7).
The Mumbai Indians started their chase of 241 on a bright note with Ryan Rickelton, who started with a six off Jacob Duffy in the opening over, and Rohit Sharma raising 50 runs for the team in the fifth over. The five-time champions reached 62 for no loss in the six overs of Power-play, but the dugout was not that happy as former captain Rohit Sharma had to retire hurt because of a hamstring injury, for which he received treatment on the ground. He was batting on 19 in the sixth over when he decided to return to the dugout and receive more treatment.
Rickelton struck Duffy for four and six and swung the seasoned Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a six over the long-leg fence. He was the first to go when he took a wild swing at a Suyash Sharma googly, only to top-edge it to Bhuvneshwar at short third. Rickelton was out for 37 off 22 balls, hitting three fours and as many sixes.
Tilak Varma (1) survived only three balls before he attempted a sweep off Suyash Sharma, only to spoon a simple catch to Duffy. The double strike by the leg-spinner virtually derailed the Mumbai Indians’ chase.
Suryakumar Yadav, who started with a four off Impact player Rasikh Salam on the second ball he faced, struck Krunal Pandya for a four and took back-to-back boundaries off Suyash Sharma in the 10th over as Mumbai reached 99/2 at the halfway stage, lagging a bit behind RCB, who were 115 for no loss at the same stage. But SKY could not produce a match-defining long innings as he scored 33 off 22 balls before swiping it straight down to Rasikh Salam at backward square leg.
Hardik Pandya hammered a six off the first ball from Suyash Sharma and a four a few balls later. A couple of boundaries off Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 11th over, followed by a couple of fours off Suyash, kept Mumbai’s hopes alive. But the Mumbai Indians’ chase lacked confidence after Rohit walked off injured, and Hardik’s heroics too did not last long as he miscued Duffy to Romario Shepherd 41 as MI slumped to 145/4 in the 15th over, leaving Mumbai needing 93 from the last five overs.
RCB pulled things back in the middle overs with Krunal Pandya strangling the batters for 1-26 in his quota, while Suyash Sharma bagged 2-47 from his four overs.
From 72/1 in the eighth over, the Mumbai Indians slumped to 147/4 with Rohit retired hurt, their hopes tottering towards an eventual demise. Rutherford struck Rasik Salam for a superb six in the 16th over as he kept the fight going. Namn Dhir (1) holed out to Patidar off Salam to make it 154/5.
It was a dramatic and lengthy 16th over as Rasik Salam twice went down with cramps and had to take treatment before finally walking off with a ball remaining to be bowled. Romario Shepherd caught Sherfane Rutherford off a no-ball before the drama ended eventually.
With the Mumbai Indians needing an improbable-looking 84 for 24 balls, the hosts eventually finished in their 20 overs with 222/5 on the board — 18 short of the target.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 240/4 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 78, Rajat Patidar 53, Virat Kohli 50, Tim David 34 not out; Shardul Thakur 1-32, Hardik Pandya 1-39) beat Mumbai Indians 222/5 in 20 overs (Sherfane Rutherford 71 not out, Hardik Pandya 40; Suyash Sharma 2-47, Krunal Pandya 1-26) by 18 runs.
–IANS
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