Mumbai Indians (MI) moved to the second spot on the Indian Premier League (IPL) season V points table and consolidated their chances of qualifying for the play-offs after they clinched a last over thriller over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.
With 14 runs required to win off the last over, RCB gave the responsibility of bowling the last over to Chris Gayle which did not turn out to be a good move as MI raced to victory with two balls to spare. Bangalore now is at the fifth position, with hopes still on for a play-offs spot.
Here are some of the performances of the last match that mattered:
Hits and flops of Mumbai Indians:
Hits:
Ambati Rayudu: He always has been a player on whom MI depends on lot. And his yesterday’s performance showed it why. He came in at a stage when Mumbai were in a real precarious situation. But he denied to crumble under pressure and hung on. He knitted his innings well and once he set his eyes in he launched an onslaught on the Bangalore bowlers. He was at his aggressive best and scored 81 not out of 54 deliveries and hit six fours and four sixes.
Keiron Pollard: He came into the bat when Mumbai lost half their side and were staring at defeat. But he decided to stand against all odds and played a great role to assist Rayudu in the endeavor. He along with Rayudu put up a partnership of 122 in 10.2 overs to pick up a spectacular win. Pollard scored an unbeaten 52 of just 31 deliveries which included five fours and three sixes.
Flops:
Munaf Patel: Munaf Patel is one of the main reasons why Bangalore could go past 170. He was asked to bowl the last over of the innings and being a premier bowler lot was expected of him. But he could stand up to it and was carted by Mayank Aggarwal for 24 runs in that over. He returned with figures of 54-1 in four overs.
Hits and flops of Royal Challengers Bangalore:
Tillakaratne Dilshan: He played a great role at the top of the innings. He hung on and made sure that the scoreboard kept ticking. He scored 47 of 50 balls which included four fours and a six.
Mayank Aggarwal: He came to bat lower down the order and the move worked perfectly. He launched a late attack and it was due to him that they put up an imposing total of 171. He was particularly harsh on Munaf Patel and belted 24 of his last over. Aggarwal scored 64 of 30 deliveries which included six fours and four sixes.
Flops:
Fifth bowler: It was their fifth bowler again that made them lose a match which was there to be won. The combination of KP Appana and Chris Gayle gave away 58 runs in 3.4 overs.
By Samikshan Dutta Choudhury
Indian Sports News
