Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Mumbai Indians by 14 run

Match 31 of ongoing IPL 2018 saw a tight finish between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Mumbai Indians (MI). With both sides languishing at the bottom, they were desperate for victory. Defending 168, RCB had MI under the pump at 21 for 3; later reduced to 84 for 5. Their tight death bowling, and fielding, restricted MI to 153 for 7.

MI’s chase started on the wrong note. Tim Southee led to back-to-back golden ducks for Ishan Kishan versus RCB. He moved out of the crease to negate the swing but the ball nipped in hit the timber. Suryakumar Yadav followed suit. He shuffled, and missed Umesh Yadav’s incoming delivery in an attempt to play towards leg. Thus, he was trapped lbw. MI’s woes continued as skipper Rohit Sharma fell for a golden duck. He was hurried onto the ball, with extra bounce, and got a thick edge.

JP Duminy’s calmness was the need of hour. While he stuck around for a while, he didn’t look threatening. Kieron Pollard, on the other hand, was deceived by a cross-seamer by Mohammed Siraj. He went for a needless poke, with a slip in place, and perished. RCB kept things under control in the middle overs courtesy Yuzvendra Chahal’s spin.

The Pandya brothers, Hardik and Krunal, had a clear plan: to bat deep and consolidate later in the innings. They played out Chahal, and had some dry overs in between as well. Pandya bros upped the ante by attacking Colin de Grandhomme. However, the run-flow was curtailed due to a much-improved and collective death bowling from RCB. Siraj mixed it up, and bowled flat with adequate pace. Southee also made it difficult with his change in pace.

Hardik made a valiant fifty but couldn’t prevent his side’s sixth defeat. His was only not a very fluent innings; depicting the sticky nature of the surface. Earlier, MI opted to bowl first. RCB somehow managed 167 for 7 through contributions from Brendon McCullum, Virat Kohli and de Grandhomme.

RCB’s hunger for success, especially with the skipper’s wife’s (Anushka Sharma, who was also in attendance) birthday, has revamped their campaign. Meanwhile, MI couldn’t maintain the momentum post their impressive win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

Brief scores:

Royal Challengers Bangalore 167 for 7 in 20 overs (Manan Vohra 45, Brendon McCullum 37, Virat Kohli 32, Colin de Grandhomme 23*; Hardik Pandya 3 for 28, Mitchell McClenaghan 1 for 34, Jasprit Bumrah 1 for 22) beat Mumbai Indians 153 for 7 in 20 overs (JP Duminy 23, Hardik Pandya 50, Krunal Pandya 23; Tim Southee 2 for 25, Mohammed Siraj 2 for 28, Umesh Yadav 2 for 29) by 14 runs