Bengaluru: A thrilling win for Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first face-off with Mumbai Indians at Chinnaswamy stadium on Thursday was studded with some power-packed performances. First it was Chris Gayle who played a scintillating knock of 92 runs to take his team to a competitive total of 156 in their 20 overs and in reply Mumbai Indians started off well with their opening pair of Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar as they put a 50 run partnership for first wicket stand. But after the dismissal of Tendulkar they lost the plot and ended up losing three quick wickets. Dinesh Karthik did well to bring MI close to the target but they fell short by just two runs. Karthik batted brilliantly, scoring 60 off just 37 balls.
Here we bring to you the hits and flops form the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore versus Mumbai Indians.
HITS
Chris Gayle: Mumbai Indians was hit very badly by the Gayle storm. Gayle ended up scoring 92 runs off 58 balls. Gayle started off very slow and was at just 10 runs off first 17 balls but he didn’t took much time in shifting his gears and accelerated the scoring rate soon. The manner in which he unleashed himself was quite fascinating especially after getting injured and suffering from cramps. His innings was studded with 11 fours and five monstrous sixes which thrilled the crowd and made them go gaga at Chinnaswamy Stadium. His one-man show ensured that RCB surpass the 150 mark quite convincingly and the best part was that he batted till the last ball of the innings.
Jasprit Bumrah: Jasprit had a dream debut on Thursday. Though he was smashed for three fours in his very first over by Virat Kohli, he came back well to get him out on the fifth ball of his debut match. His weird action did caught lots of eyeballs but he surprised everyone with his magical bowling spell. He sent back Mayank Agarwal in his very next over for just one run and later he trapped Karun Nair leg before wicket which was just a replica of Virat Kohli’s dismissal. His ability to bowl with a sharp inward angle while going wide off the crease made him look deadly.
Vinay Kumar: VInay was bit scratchy when he bowled his first two overs but he came back really strong in his final two and picked up three wickets. He picked up the key wicket Dinesh Karthik and Ambati Rayudu in his final over and handed over a nail biting win to RCB. He ended with the bowling figures of 3-27 in his quota of four overs. His death bowling will be very crucial for RCB in upcoming fixtures.
Murli Kartik: Murli Kartik picked up just one wicket but kept the one end tight while bowling and made sure that Mumbai Indians won’t chase the score of 157 easily. He picked up the wicket of Ricky Ponting who was looking very good with the bat. Kartik got Ponting stumped when he was at the score of 28 runs. He gave just 24 runs and picked up a crucial wicket of Ponting in his four overs.
Dinesh Karthik: Dinesh Karthik played a stupendous knock to keep the Mumbai Indians in hunt and reached his 50 in just 31 balls. He started off really slow but he stepped up to the occasion in the final five overs and smashed three back to back sixes off Daniel Christian. He smashed three fours and four sixes to keep the MI in race.
FLOPS
Tilakaratne Dilshan: Tilakaratne Dilshan was looking very rusty from the very beginning as his front foot was not moving that well and he was not able to time the ball with ease. His innings didn’t last too long and his off-stump was knocked off by Mitchell Johnson when he was trying to play by going across the line to a fuller ball. Dilshan will have to pull up his socks or else Kohli has others options to try.
Munaf Patel: Munaf Patel started off really well and gave away just eight runs in his first two overs but Chris Gayle disturbed those figures with his smashing hits and took him for 32 runs in his last two. Munaf was having no clue whatsoever when he was bowling his final over and Gayle didn’t let go this opportunity and scored 15 runs out of which 14 came in boundaries. In total, Gayle smashed him four boundaries and two monstrous sixes in his quota of four overs.
Rohit Sharma: Rohit started off well and was looking good. But he failed to resist his temptation for big shots and gave away his wicket quite cheaply. He once again went out of patience and MI had to pay the price for that. He was bowled playing a rash shot to Vinay Kumar for 11 runs.
Daniel Christian: A lot was expected from him Daniel Vettori but he failed to display his all-round ability and failed miserably. While batting, he took 13 deliveries to score four runs and was undone by off-spinner Harbhajan Singh who tossed up the delivery and to hit the ball for maximum, Christian went for a big hit but mistimed it for a catch. Things went from bad to worse when he came out to bowl for RCB. He gave away 42 runs in his four overs. In his last over he was smashed for three sixes and a four by Dinesh Karthik.
Muttiah Muralitharan: Muralitharan was supposed to be the trump-card for RCB but that didn’t happen as he went for 30 runs in his quota of four overs. His under-par performance did put some pressure on Virat Kohli as he seemed to be running out of bowling options. Maybe in next match, Virat might opt for Daniel Vettori instead of the Sri Lankan legend.
Keiron Pollard: Pollard failed with the ball as he gave 15 runs in the only over that he bowled. To it, he wasn't promoted up the order in batting and got only two balls to face. Mumbai Indians needed eight runs from those two balls but and the West Indian import could score just five.
By Amit Chopra
Indian Sports News Network
