As the wicket offered turned and pacers too generated pace, Mumbai Indians succeeded in straight-jacketing the RCB batsmen.
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Earlier, staring at an early exit, Mumbai upped their game as they did well to restrict the misfiring home team to 167/7.
The young wicketkeeper might have gotten a chance to do the pep talk in Mumbai Indians’ huddle but was undone by a attractive in-swinger from Tim Southee off the very first ball he faced.
However, 26-run partnership was finally broken by youngster Mohammed Siraj who got the prized wicket of Pollard (13). He came in pretty handy with the ball and also saved some crucial runs on the field.
The two Pandya brothers – Hardik and Krunal – however gave a tough fight to the RCB bowlers with a 56-run stand off 39 balls.
RCB would be praying for the return of AB de Villiers, who did not play the last game due to illness. He took the attack early on to the Mumbai bowlers and also took JP Duminy for a few cleaners.
Royal Challengers’ bowlers did exceptionally well job in defending the target.
At the other end, de Kock struggled to time the ball – the southpaw’s lone boundary coming off a thick outside edge – and a good, low catch at mid-wicket by Sharma put a stop to his brief stay. Markande, nevertheless, lodged himself into the wickets column in his next over, trapping Vohra in front for a 31-ball 45; the 24-year-old was beaten on the sweep. De Kock was replaced by Brendon McCullum at the crease ahead of captain Virat Kohli.
Before he returned for his third over in the 18th over, Hardik Pandya would have thought to get away as soon as possible bowling six deliveries. He sent back Suryakumar Yadav with a peach of a delivery and topped it up with another brilliant ball to Rohit Sharma next up. De Grandhomme slammed three sixes off Mitchell McClenaghan and finished unbeaten on 23 off 10 balls.
Mumbai will bank on young spinner Mayank Markande, who has so far bagged 10 wickets from seven games with his leg-spin, to continue with his impressive performance. Among all the IPL teams Mumbai have the most win against the Royal Challengers.
Yesterday, a nail biting clash was witnessed between the Chennai Super Kings and the Delhi Daredevils wherein after a commendable effort by the DD batsmen, it was the CSK which stole the show and won the sixth game of this season.
Mumbai won their previous game against Chennai and will be looking to keep the momentum going on while Bangalore lost at home against Kolkata and would expect they turn things around in this match. Duminy and Cutting did not get to bat, while Cutting’s one over went for 14 runs.
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On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals have experienced a topsy-turvy campaign and find themselves on fifth in the table with six points from seven matches.
