Published: Apr 20, 2015, 01:21 AM (IST)
Edited: Apr 20, 2015, 01:21 AM (IST)
It took four games and an uncharacteristic innings from Chris Gayle for Mumbai Indians (MI) to finally register a win in the eighth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). When a fourth of the game remained, it seemed that MI would win it comfortably but an inspiring batting effort from AB de Villiers and David Wiese ensured Royal Challengers Bangalore got very close in the end.
RCB won the toss and fielded first. Once again their bowlers leaked runs. While Varun Aaron gave away 50 runs from his four overs, Abu Nechim gave away 59. Both the bowlers didn’t pick a wicket. It was Wiese and Yuzvendra Chahal who kept the scoring under check but still MI raced to 209 for seven in their 20 overs. Lendl Simmons and Unmukt Chand scored fifties while captain Rohit Sharma scored 42 from just 15 balls.
RCB got off to a disastrous start. Chasing runs at 10.5 an over, RCB were 26 for one by the end of the fifth over. When RCB skipper Virat Kohli got out in the 11th over, the score was 62 for three. From here on, it was an AB show. He scored 41 from 11 deliveries in an innings that contained five fours and three maximums. At one point they needed 148 from 57 balls, and when he got out they needed 85 from 34. Wiese playing his first IPL game backed up his bowling performance with a fine unbeaten 47 from 25 balls but RCB still fell 18 short. Had they got off to a better start, the story would have been different.
Turning point: Harbhajan Singh once again showed why he is so crucial to the MI unit. He bowled four over for 27 runs and got the wickets of Manvinder Bisla, Chris Gayle and Rilee Rossouw. However the turning point of the game was de Villiers’ dismissal in the 15th over. Had the South African been around for longer, the game would have taken a different course.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 209 for 7 in 20 overs [Lendl Simmons 59 (44), Unmukt Chand 58 (37), Rohit Sharma 42 (15); David Wiese 4-0-33-4, Yuzvendra Chahal 4-0-28-2] bt Royal Challengers Bangalore 191 for 7 in 20 overs [AB de Villiers 41 (11), David Wiese 47 (25)*; Harbhajan Singh 4-0-27-3] – by 18 runs
