Twitter Reactions: Lasith Malinga and Hardik Pandya crush RCB’s playoffs hopes

The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) couldn’t hold on to their winning momentum and slumped to their seventh defeat in this edition’s Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise, captained by Virat Kohli lost to the Mumbai Indians (MI) by five wickets at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. With the drubbing, RCB virtually got knocked out of the tournament with mathematical calculations remaining.

De Villiers blazes away

The MI won the toss and put the Challengers to bat first. Jason Behrendorff struck first blood, getting rid of Virat Kohli in his second over. Parthiv Patel played his strokes without nurturing any inhibitions to score 28 runs with four fours and an over-boundary. Thereafter, AB de Villiers and Moeen Ali put their heads down and added 95 runs for the third wicket in 61 balls to set the platform for a final flourish.

The stand was broken by Lasith Malinga, who nipped out Moeen after the Englishman notched 50 runs off 32 deliveries with one four and five sixes. At the other end, De Villiers played until the very last over and racked up 75 runs from 51 balls with the help of six boundaries and four sixes. For Mumbai, Malinga was the most successful as he finished with a four-wicket haul and restricted RCB to 171 in 20 overs.

Mumbai get home in a cliffhanger

Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock blazed away and put Mumbai on the driver’s seat with a partnership of 70 runs from 43 balls. With the hosts racing off, Moeen castled Rohit and gave the Challengers a much-needed breather. The MI captain scored 28 with two fours and as many sixes. Ali struck the body blow as he got rid of the dangerous de Kock after the South African batsman scored 40 from 26 balls.

Ishan Kishan came to the party and cleared the ropes to score 21 runs before perishing to Yuzvendra Chahal. The RCB spinners didn’t give anything to the hosts’ batsmen to work with and kept their team in the game. Suryakumar Yadav promised and even he gave his wicket away to Chahal. Mumbai required 22 runs off two overs and Hardik racked up those many runs in the 19th over itself off Negi.

Here is how Twitter reacted

Get the latest Cricket News and updates from the Indian Premier League (IPL), Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.