IPL 12: Bangalore buckle

Bengaluru: Lasith Malinga who landed hours ago before the match was handed over the responsibility to defend 16 runs in last over against Royal Challengers and he rightly did so. Mumbai Indians successfully defended their 187 in a high scoring match on Thursday.

The fireworks of AB de Villiers (70 off 41 balls) went in vain. Man-of-the-Match Jasprit Bumrah was the star with the ball for Mumbai Indians.

However, Mumbai may have benefitted from an umpiring howler. With 7 to defend off the last ball,  umpire S. Ravi failed to notice bowler Malinga overstepping the crease.

With 188 to get, it was an inauspicious start for hosts as Moeen Ali was run out for 13. Virat Kohli opened his account with a pull towards vacant mid-on region of Jasprit Bumrah’s bowling. Kohli struck two more boundaries in that over, indicating his intentions. At the end of the power play, RCB were scoring at 10 runs per over.

A partisan crowd of Chinnaswamy Stadium roared the arrival of AB de Villiers. Mumbai Indians would have tightened their grip had Yuvraj Singh held a relatively easy catch of AB de Villiers when latter was hadn’t opened his account.

Jasprit Bumrah, finally got the better of his national skipper when Virat was undone by a short ball by the bowler. AB de Villiers, showcased his prowess with the bat again as he smashed 20 runs of Lasith Malinga’s bowling, giving his team a chance to chase down 41runs in last four overs.  

The accuracy at which Bumrah was bowling, it was tough for a new batsman like Colin de Grandhomme to put bat to ball. The way de Villiers picked his bowlers to attack, showed the class of this South African legend. In the 18th over he took apart Hardik Pandya for 18 runs who had a good outing with the bat.

With all pacers conceding over 10 runs per over, Jasprit Bumrah was the sole bright spot for Mumbai Indians as his four overs resulted in mere 20 runs while he took three vital wickets.

Earlier, Mumbai Indians got to a decent start thanks to their openers Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock as the duo stitched 52 runs for the first wicket.

Rohit’s innings of 48 came to an end when he tried to attack Umesh Yadav and gave a skier to Mohd Siraj at long off.  Yuvraj Singh showed some glimpse of his vintage shots when he belted Chahal for three consecutive sixes before he was brilliantly caught next delivery by Siraj.

Hardik Pandya then smashed a 14-ball 32.