In yet another roller-coaster contest, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) edged out Mumbai Indians (MI) in a Super Over tie-breaker – the second of the 13th IPL — here on Monday. MI’s defeat also meant that Ishan Kishan’s sparkling 99 went in vain.
The match went into the Super Over after both teams were levelled at 201 in the allotted 20 overs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. In the tie-breaker, RCB kept their nerve better and came out the winner. The win gave RCB two points which took their tally to four, the same as Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals, who have a better net run rate of the three teams tied on points.
In the Super Over, MI managed only seven runs off pacer Navdeep Saini’s tight over. Chasing, RCB skipper Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers helped their side achieve the target off the final ball as the former flicked Jasprit Bumrah to pull off an incredible win.
Before the match slipped into the Super Over, MI, who were chasing a 202-run target, had a worst possible start as RCB debutant Isuru Udana and Washington Sundar struck early, dismissing Rohit Sharma (8) and SuryakumarYadav, who was back into the hut without opening his account.
After being reduced to 16/2, MI opener Quinton de Kock (14) was joined by Ishan and the pair tried to rescue their side following the disastrous start. Just when the two were trying to settle down in the middle, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal jolted MI as he cut short de Kock’s innings and that left the four-time champions reeling at 39/3 in 6.4 overs.
The fall of de Kock brought Hardik Pandya (15) to the crease and he and Kishan helped MI add another 39 runs for the fourth wicket.
In order to cope up with the escalating required run-rate, Hardik tried to clear the deep mid-wicket fence off an Adam Zampa delivery but couldn’t generate enough power and was caught at the boundary.
With 124 needed of the remaining 52 balls, Kishan, who manfully kept the fight on, joined hands with Keiron Pollard. Jharkhand stumper Kishan duly notched up his half-century off 39 deliveries.
The Pollard-Kishan pair took their side to 122/4 in 16 overs before the West Indian big-hitter suddenly changed gears and clobbered Zampa for 27 runs to bring the team into contention.
There was no stopping for the MI batters as the duo then hammered Chahal for 22 runs in the 18th over. With 31 needed off the final 12 balls, Ishan gathered 12 runs off the penultimate over as another contest went down the wire.
In the final over, Kishan smashed Udana for two sixes to reach 99. But he was unfortunate to miss his century as he fell off the second-last ball while trying to go big over the deep mid-wicket area. Kishan’s 58-ball knock was decorated with two fours and nine huge sixes.
With five needed off the last ball, Pollard managed to pick a boundary which was not enough to produce a result. The scored were level and the contest then progressed to the Super Over.
For RCB, Udana picked couple of wickets while Chahal, Zampa and Sundar settled with one each.
Earlier, RCB, who were asked to bat, got off to a flying start, courtesy some sensible batting by Devdutt Padikkal (54) and Aaron Finch (52). The duo comfortably steered their side to 59 runs in the initial six overs.
While trying to speed up the scoring rate, Finch attempted a lofted drive over the cover area off a Trent Boult delivery in the ninth over but ended up handing an easy catch to Keiron Pollard at long-off. The Aussie’s innings, which came off 35 balls, included seven boundaries and a six.
Kohli, who joined Padikkal in the middle, once again struggled with the bat as he departed after managing just three runs from 11 deliveries. Kohli was dismissed by Rahul Chahar in the 13th over with RCB scorecard reading 92/2.
Padikkal, on the other hand, continued to keep the scorers busy. The 20-year-old swiftly changed gears in the 14th over as he smoked two sixes off James Pattinson. He received able support from de Villiers (55 not out) and the pair added a brisk 62 runs for the third wicket.
With the MI bowlers struggling for breakthroughs, Boult struck again in the 18th over to send back a dangerous looking Padikkal, whose knock contained five fours and two sixes.
de Villers and incoming batsman Shivam Dube, however, kept the run-rate intact and added 47 runs for the fourth wicket to help their team post a challenging 201/3 in 20 overs.
While de Villiers remained unbeaten on 55 off 24 balls, Dube, who came up with fireworks in the death overs, remained not out on 27 off 10 balls. de Villiers’ innings was laced with four boundaries and as many sixes while Dube smashed three massive sixes along with a boundary.
Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 201/3 in 20 overs (AB de Villiers 55 not out, Devdutt Padikkal 54; Trent Boult 2/34) beat Mumbai Indians 201/5 (Ishan Kishan 99, Keiron Pollard 60 not out; Isuru Udana 2/45) in Super Over.