IPL 2020: 10 Hilarious memes from the MI vs RCB game

The 48th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was the clash of titans. The top-table fixture pitted up the mighty Mumbai Indians against the ravishing Royal Challengers Bangalore. The match was crucial by every sense of the word as it was earmarked as season-defining for plenty of reasons.

At the time of toss, it was once again the Caribbean hunk Kieron Pollard who came out for the Mumbai Indians, keeping the air of mystery alive around Rohit Sharma’s unavailability. While the MI decided to go unchanged, RCB made as many as three changes – Josh Phillippe, Dale Steyn, and Shivam Dube came in at the expense of Aaron Finch, injured Navdeep Saini, and Moeen Ali.

Openers make it merry for RCB

The move of pairing Josh Phillippe with Devdutt Padikkal paid dividends as the duo, unleashing a wide repertoire of strokes, exploited the field restrictions to the fullest. MI needed a breakthrough desperately as Philippe (33 from 24), and Padikkal were in cruise control after adding 71 runs for the first wicket. However, the former, in an attempt to step out and go over extra-cover, missed the delivery and gave wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock a stumping opportunity.

Challengers’ failure to capitalize

The new man in, Virat Kohli, struggled to find his rhythm and top-edged a short-pitched delivery of Jasprit Bumrah straight to midwicket when he was at 9. Joined by AB de Villiers, Padikkal (74 from 45), continued to score runs for fun, whereas ABD (15 from 12) struck a couple of eye-catching strokes as well before holing a full toss of Kieron Pollard to Rahul Chahar at square leg.

Despite getting to a flying start, RCB lost way too many wickets towards the death to let it slip. Shivam Dube miscued Bumrah’s bouncer and holed it straight to deep midwicket, whereas Padikkal soon followed suit as he towered another bouncer in the same over straight to Trent Boult, leaving his team 134/5.

Though Chris Morris managed to hit a boundary off Boult making his intentions clear, the bowler had the last laugh as he dismissed the all-rounder cheaply in the 18th over before MI eventually restricted RCB to 164/6.

Mumbai Indians’ sedate start

Coming to chase a tricky target, MI made a slow start in the powerplay. Not being able to get wickets, Kohli introduced Mohammed Siraj in the last over of the powerplay, and the pacer did not disappoint as he got rid of Quinton de Kock (18 from 19), who hoicked one straight to Gurkeerat Mann standing at deep midwicket. A couple of overs later, Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed a dangerous-looking Ishan Kishan (25 from 19) to break the Indians’ flow further.

Though Suryakumar Yadav (79 from 43) stood his ground to keep the team’s ship steady, a sensational catch of Padikkal off Siraj’s bowling to make Saurabh Tiwary walk back, and an irresponsible shot from Krunal Pandya – who was promoted ahead of Pollard, led the team into trouble. Though wickets kept tumbling from one end, Yadav ensured that he stayed composed at the other and kept scoring at a comfortable pace.

Upping the ante just at the brink of the strategic time-out, the right-hander slapped three boundaries off Siraj’s third over to ease the scoreboard pressure. With 27 needed off the last 18, MI started to smell victory. Though Chris Morris struck in the penultimate over to dismiss Hardik Pandya, the stand-in skipper Pollard came out to complete the formalities.

Here are the best memes from the MI vs RCB game: