In a nail bitting contest, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated the Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai by 12 runs. Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal’s partnership made a huge total of 221 possible with Kohli smashing 67 runs. Hardik Pandya and company suffered their 4th loss of the season. Despite Hardik Pandya (42) and Tilak Verma (56) making an effort till their last breath, the Mumbai Indians were not able to bring their team to the victory podium on Monday. Suryakumar Yadav seemed to have gained rhythm but later got dismissed on 28 runs after being dropped twice. This was the second defeat for the Mumbai Indians by 12 runs.
Mumbai Indians leader Hardik Pandya selected bowling as his first choice when he won the match toss. Bengaluru started poorly by losing Phil Salt at just four runs soon after the beginning of the match. Padikkal and Kohli took the lead in launching a powerful batting offense which followed their first-wicket loss. During the powerplay period the two batters exploited their advantage by hitting frequent boundaries and sixes against all defenses across the field. RCB became the first team to hit 73 runs in their opening six overs when playing against Mumbai Indians. This score made it their best powerplay result against this team. Bengaluru scored 68 runs to become their highest total ever against Mumbai Indians when Chennai witnessed this achievement during 2011. Finally Bengaluru gave a reasonable title of 222 runs and welcomed Mumbai Indians to chase the score.
Kohli-Patidar’s Explosive Half-Century
Virat Kohli marked his half-century by hitting 29 balls earlier than ending his innings against Hardik Pandya during the 15th over. The batsman finished his inning after hitting 67 runs from his 42-ball appearance which included 8 fours and 2 valuable sixes for a strike rate of 159.52. The top form Kohli displayed yielded his dismissal while attempting to launch an ambitious swing for a large hit.
Rajat Patidar showed once again that how justified it is for the RCB dugout to pick him as the captain for such a mature side. He smashed 64 runs in just 32 balls with a strike rate of 200.
RCB Bowlers Doing The Job
Despite Trent Boult dismissing Phil Salt on the second ball, none of the MI bowling unit seemed impressive. The RCB bowling unit worked whole as a team led by Krunal Pandya’s 4-wicket hall. Pacers Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar bagged wickets for themselves as well.
