IPL 2018: Match 31 RCB vs MI, Review- With a win over MI, RCB stay afloat in the tournament

The Chinnaswamy crowd witnessed another humdinger of a contest. However, this time around, it was the home team that ended up on the winning side. With this win, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) now move to the fifth spot on the points table. As for Mumbai Indians (MI), they’re now all but out of the tournament as the ask for them is to win all their games to qualify for the playoffs.

Earlier in the day, it was the Mumbai who won the toss, keeping the dew in mind, skipper Rohit Sharma elected to bowl first. They had to make a forced change as Kieron Pollard came in for the injured Evin Lewis. As for the Royal Challengers, Murugan Ashwin was replaced by Washington Sundar as AB de Villiers again missed out due to sickness.

The RCB sprung in a surprise as Manan Vohra walked out to open the innings with Quinton de Kock. While the start was slow, Vohra took the initiative against JP Duminy and smashed the part-time spinner bowling his second over in the power play for two sixes and two fours. On the other hand, de Kock was really struggling to get around got out.

The Kohli-McCullum show, collapse and recovery

Mayank Markande got the crucial breakthrough of Vohra who scored 45 from 31 and Kohli walked out to bat at No.4. He alongside Brendon McCullum took the Mumbai bowling attack to the cleaners. Both combined for a splendid partnership of 60 runs from just 35 balls for the third wicket. However as soon as McCullum was run out owing to a fantastic throw from Hardik Pandya, the run rate slowed down.

This triggered a collapse in the RCB batting ranks. From 139/3 to 143/7, they slumped thanks to some brilliant bowling at the death by the Mumbai bowlers especially Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah. However, the last three balls of the innings yielded the hosts 21 runs. Mitchell McClenaghan’s no ball didn’t help Mumbai Indian’s cause as Colin de Grandhomme landed three of the last four balls in the stands and thus RCB ended up with a total of 167/7 in their quota of 20 overs.

Hardik who conceded 14 runs on the first two legal deliveries he bowled ended up with 3/28 in his three overs. The trio of Bumrah, McClenaghan and Markande got a wicket each. Though much bigger scores have been scaled down the total today was expected to be a tricky one as the wicket was playing slow.

Mumbai Indians begin poorly

Mumbai Indians were off to a horrid start. Ishan Kishan was dismissed for a golden duck. Umesh Yadav then struck twice off consecutive balls. After trapping the in-form Suryakumar Yadav in front of the stumps, he had the better of Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma. Right at the start of the chase, the visitors were reduced to 21/3.

Kieron Pollard who has been in the middle of a lean patch this year continued his poor show. JP Duminy tried to keep things in check for a while but ended up running himself out after batting cautiously. In the end, it was up to the Pandya brothers to win it for the Mumbai Indians.

Turning point for RCB

Tim Southee bowled a fantastic 18th over as he conceded just five runs getting the yorkers right. Mohammed Siraj followed it up with another stupendous over where he hit the blockhole more often than not and they managed to restrict MI to 153/7. Hardik Pandya got out on the first ball of the last over after scoring a half century and eventually Mumbai failed to get through the finishing line.

As for RCB, it was probably a rare moment of success for the entire pace attack. The fast bowlers were stupendous with the trio of Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee and Mohammed Siraj, all picking a couple of wickets each and were economical. Yuzvendra Chahal also didn’t concede a lot of runs and handled the middle overs well. With this win, Bangalore are still alive in the IPL.

Brief Scores

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 167/7 in 20 overs; (Manan Vohra 45, Brendon McCullum 37; Hardik Pandya 3/28, Jasprit Bumrah 1/22)

Mumbai Indians: 153/7 in 20 overs; (Hardik Pandya 50, Krunal Pandya 23; Tim Southee 2/25, Mohammed Siraj 2/28)

Royal Challengers Bangalore win by 14 runs

Player of the Match: Tim Southee