Indian Premier League has entered its business end and apart from Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders no team is certain to make the playoffs. Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore are two of the five teams which are fighting for a place in the playoffs. Both the teams would have been desperate to get two points out of the match and in the end it was the team from Bangalore who secured the points with a clinical performance.

Mumbai was put in to bat by Virat Kohli and his decision was justified by his bowlers as Mumbai got off to a horrendous start. They lost two wickets in the second over and were always behind the eight ball. Bangalore chased down the target without dropping a sweat and with the win moved up to number four position in the points table.

Here are some of the hits and flops from both innings.

Mumbai Indians:

Hits:

Dinesh Karthik: He came in to bat when Mumbai were two down in the second over and was involved in a decent little partnership with Sachin Tendulkar. He started the innings slowly and build a good platform for the late middle-order for Mumbai. He played some good attacking strokes at the end of his innings and his 44 runs included three fours and one six.

Partnership between Pollard and Harbhajan: Mumbai needed a strong finish and that’s exactly what they got. Both Pollard and Harbhajan struck the ball well and took Mumbai’s score past 140. Harbhajan scored 20 runs in just 12 balls and hit three fours. Pollard scored 21 runs which included two huge sixes.

Flops:

Rohit Sharma: He is one of the most trusted players from Mumbai and a lot is expected from this talented youngster. He came to bat in the second over and played a rash stroke across the line to get out. He has been playing some bad strokes to get out in the tournament and he repeated his mistake once again.

James Franklin: It is very hard to believe why Mumbai is playing him in every match. He has played some descent innings but has not done that well to play all the matches. Franklin once again missed out as he guided the ball straight to the fielder standing at third men. He might find it difficult to find a place in the next match that Mumbai plays.

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Hits:

Muttiah Muralitharan: The veteran spinner once again showed that why he deserves a place in the side ahead of Daniel Vettori. Murali bowled beautifully and took two important wickets. He has been one of the most economical bowlers in IPL-5 and he again bowled with a lot of control.

Chris Gayle: Gayle has been very consistent for RCB in this season and he once again shown with the bat. He started the innings slowly and kept out Malinga. Later he attacked the other MI bowlers and finished with 82 runs against his name.

Zaheer Khan: He has been bowling well and was the main reason for a sedate start by Mumbai Indians batsmen. He swung the ball quite well and was unlucky not to pick any wickets. He conceded only 16 runs in his four overs.

Flops:

Syed Mohammad: He found it difficult in the match and was taken for a few runs. MI batsmen were struggling to get any momentum in their innings and they targeted this young left-armer. He conceded 38 runs in his four overs.  



By Gaurav Jha

Indian Sports News