Mumbai Indians’ fiery bowling restrict Royal Challengers Bangalore to 151 for 4 in IPL 2016

It was KL Rahul yet again in forefront of a rescue mission. His blistering fifty helped RCB post 151 runs against MI in IPL 9.

Mumbai Indians’ (MI) fiery bowling restrict Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to 151 for 4 in IPL 2016 in Match 41 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Earlier, MI won the toss and elected to bowl first. Captains these days prefer bowling first, as they find it easier to estimate a run chase. Virat Kohli started the proceeding by clearing Tim Southee’s out-swinging delivery over extra cover. However, his stay was cut short by the in-form Mitchell McClenaghan. MI fed on Kohli’s weakness by bowling in the corridor of uncertainty. Due to extra pace and bounce, Kohli couldn’t tackle it and edged it to Harbhajan Singh at fly slip. This was Kohli’s first single-digit score of IPL 9. Indeed it was a rare failure. Full Scorecard: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians, IPL 2016, Match 41 at Bangalore

To make matters worse, the Caribbean marauder Chris Gayle joined Kohli in the dug out, as he tried to go down town but eventually top-edged to Rohit Sharma at mid off. The onus was then on AB de Villiers and KL Rahul to solidify the innings and put the team back into the driver’s seat. Just when de Villiers seemed to have found his feet, he holed out a quicker one by Krunal Pandya at deep mid-wicket. As a matter of fact, this was the second time Krunal got the better of the rampant AB. Moreover, Krunal was pick of the bowlers with his staggering figures of 1 for 15.

However, it was KL Rahul in forefront of a rescue mission. He kept the scoreboard ticking by putting away bad deliveries to the boundary line. He put a price on his wicket and dissected as well as cleared the field with ease and grace. He brought his 4th fifty of IPL 9 in 42 balls.

It was Kieron Pollard’s first over that changed the equation of the match. Rahul welcomed the big man by  scything a slower ball over square leg. Nonetheless, Sachin Baby continued the rampage by bludgeoning back-to-back sixes followed by a lovely heave past deep square leg. Indeed it turned out to be a blunder to introduce Pollard in the 18th over. Rahul gave the finishing touches by flicking McClenaghan’s low full toss over deep fine leg and posted a 152-run target for MI.

Brief scorecard:

Royal Challengers Bangalore 151/4 (KL Rahul 66* (51), Sachin Baby 24* (12); Krunal Pandya 1 for 15, Tim Southee 1 for 27) vs Mumbai Indians

(Kaustubh S. Mayekar, a reporter at CricketCountry, played cricket at U-16 level. Like his idol Rahul Dravid, he often shadow-practises cricket shots. His Twitter handle is @kaumedy_)

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