IPL 2017, Match 12 RCB v MI: CT Player of the Match – Samuel Badree

When Royal Challengers Bangalore scored a below par 142 after batting first, not many would have given them a chance going into the 2nd innings especially on a batting paradise at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The stadium has dished out some high scoring games in IPL history and it was expected to be more of the same today. With the boundaries pretty short it becomes easy for the batsman to execute the big shots on a consistent basis.

Bangalore was also bolstered by the return of Virat Kohli and with that man came an attacking change in the XI. Caribbean leg-spinner Samuel Badree was included in the XI in place of Aussie pacer Billy Stanlake and it was definitely going to be an attacking move from Kohli. It could have gone either ways as a leggie tends to leak runs, but it wasn’t the case in the 12th encounter of the tournament as the tweaker provided the perfect start for the home team.

The Comeback man destroys MI top order with a hat-trick

It was a sensational day for Samuel Badree as the Caribbean tweaker looked in total command of proceedings in only his opening game in Vivo IPL 10. He came on to open the bowling and gave away only 4 runs in his opening over. It was a sensible over but what transpired after that left everyone scratching their heads.

In his very first match of IPL 10, Badree bagged the maiden hat-trick of IPL 10 and finished with exceptional match figures of 4/9 in his allotted 4 overs. It was simply an exceptional bowling display by the Caribbean which will surely pave his way to play the remaining games of the tournament. He bagged his hat-trick in the 3rd over of the innings.

His first wicket came in the 2nd delivery of the 3rd over when he induced a false shot from opener Parthiv Patel. It was a well-directed flighted delivery but Parthiv failed to get to the pitch of the ball and gave a simple catch to Chris Gayle at the short cover. Surprisingly Mitchell McCleneghan was sent up the order to counter Badree but the southpaw fell in his very first delivery.

It was a juicy full toss but the southpaw failed to deposit it over the boundary ropes and was holed out at long on by Mandeep Singh. Captain Rohit Sharma came out to face the hat-trick delivery. He looked nervous and couldn’t counter the googly from Badree. It breached through his defence and disturbed the timbers. RCB’s joys knew no bounds as Mumbai was reduced to 7/4 in the 3rd over.

Finishes off his spell with the wicket of Nitish Rana

He came back into the attack in the 6th over and gave away only 3 runs from his 3rd over. Kieron Pollard and Nitish Rana was out in the middle trying to resurrect the run chase. Their run chase was stalled yet again with the wicket of Nitish Rana in Badree’s final over. Rana’s half-century against the Kolkata Knight Riders was instrumental in their thrilling victory but the southpaw couldn’t get going and gave away his wicket to Badree in the 8th over.

It was a short of length delivery by Badree as Rana went for a square cut. The ball was way too close to the body to cut which brought about his downfall. He eventually sliced it uppishly to Sreenath Arvind.

Despite his heroics with the ball, Bangalore failed to make full use of his exceptional spell and surrendered the match in the penultimate over. It was a sensational innings from Pollard which kept Mumbai in the hunt and eventually the Pandya brothers finished it off in style for yet another time.