IPL 2019: Match 7 – RCB vs MI – Who Said What

The M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore turned out to be a delight for the fans as Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) locked horns. The game went right down to the last over and in the end, it was the visitors, who won the game by six runs. Mumbai also rode its luck as the on-field umpire failed to spot a no-ball bowled by Lasith Malinga in the final delivery of the match.

Rohit top scores for Mumbai

RCB’s decision to field first after winning the toss, misfired a wee bit as the visitors racked up a significant 187 for eight in 20 overs. Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock made a decent start with a stand of 54 runs from 39 deliveries. Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal gave Mumbai its first breakthrough with the wicket of De Kock, who scored 23 runs. Rohit notched 48 and fell prey to fast bowler Umesh Yadav.

Suryakumar Yadav didn’t die wondering with a knock of 38 with four fours and a six. Yuvraj Singh smacked three consecutive sixes off Chahal to entertain the crowd and score 23 runs. Chahal went on to pick up a four-wicket haul and was the pick of the RCB’s bowling attack. Hardik Pandya threw his bat around with good effect with a 14-ball 32. Mohammed Siraj and Umesh got two wickets each.

Mumbai get home in a thriller

Moeen Ali and Parthiv Patel started before a tremendous throw from Rohit Sharma got rid of the former in the fourth over. Then it was the turn of Virat Kohli to show his class. The Delhi-born took on Mumbai’s pace spearhead- Jasprit Bumrah- and hit him for three fours in one over. The RCB captain played a knock of 46 runs that was blended with caution and aggression. He smacked six gorgeous boundaries.

Thereafter, De Villiers came to the party and scored a brilliant fifty off 31 balls. With the required rate going up, the onus was on him to take his team home. Shimron Hetmyer succumbed to another failure and he fell prey to Bumrah. De Villiers scored 70 from 41 balls, but with 17 runs required off the last over, Bumrah defended it. Luck also smiled on Mumbai after the blunder by the umpires.

Jasprit Bumrah, the Man of the Match, said 

You go ball by ball and you try to control the controllables. You try to back yourself in the situation. You don’t go too far behind, I was just focussing on my plan and trying to back my strengths. I always try to back myself in any situation and execute the plan to perfection. I have always taken care of my body.

Virat Kohli, the RCB captain, said

We are playing at the IPL level and not playing club cricket. The umpires should have had their eyes open. That is a ridiculous call at the last ball. If it is a game of margins, I don’t know what is happening. They should have been more sharp and careful out there. When they were 145 for 7, we should have done better. The last few overs were brutal for us. A few more strikes apart from AB could have done the job for us. We need to be smarter at death bowling.

Sure they guys will take a lot of learnings from the game. I think the way they bowled, we can learn from their game. The onus is always on each and every member of the team. I got out at a wrong point of time. Shivam was good as well. I mean Jassi is a top-class bowler. A bit of a mistake from me to take him on at that stage. Mumbai is lucky to have him. And also Malinga. And if Jassi is in good form, it is good for India.

Rohit Sharma, the MI captain, said 

I just got to know when we crossed the rope. These kind of things are not good for cricket, one of the Bumrah’s deliveries wasn’t a wide. Players can’t do much. Very disappointed to see that. Anything over 180 is a good score. We know the conditions here and we got the bowlers to get the job done. We didn’t panic, we kept sticking to our strengths. Middle overs are very crucial. We stuck to our plans and I think it was a great effort from the bowlers.

Malinga has been the part of MI for a long time, you can always trust those guys in the back end. They bought experience into play. We were quite brave to bowl the deliveries we bowled. Bumrah executed well and we just missed a trick in the middle with the bat. Those are the kind of things we need to remember when playing big games. We were upto the mark today. We all understand Hardik’s importance in the side. Whatever happened with him, he needed that confidence. Batted well and got us those crucial runs in the end.

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