Mumbai Indians rode on some dsicipline bowling and a captain knock from Rohit Sharma to comfortably beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by five wickets in their Indian Premier League match at Wankhede Stadium on Monday.
Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma in action during his match-winning innings vs RCB on Monday.Pic/AFP
Mumbai Indians rode on some dsicipline bowling and a captain knock from Rohit Sharma to comfortably beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by five wickets in their Indian Premier League match at Wankhede Stadium on Monday.
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Mumbai franchise celebrated Maharashtra Day with skipper Rohit Sharma scoring an unbeaten 56 to guide the team to a win.
Sharma, who slammed six boundaries and one six in his 37-ball knock, and Jos Buttler (33) were the major contributors to Mumbai's cause.
With this result, Mumbai now sit atop the IPL standings with eight wins and two losses while Bangalore have lost eight matches and are now decidedly out of the play-off race.
Chasing 162/8 posted by Bangalore, Mumbai started off on a poor note as opener Parthiv Patel (0) was dismissed on the very first ball of the first over by Aniket Choudhary.
While trying to pull a short ball, Parthiv mistimed it and Yuzvendra Chahal took a brilliant catch at short mid-wicket.
Incoming batsman Nitish Rana (27) and Buttler then added 61 runs in 7.2 overs to stabilise Mumbai's innings before the latter was sent packing by spinner Pawan Negi. Buttler played 21 balls and slammed four boundaries and one six.
After one over, in-form Rana was also sent back to the pavilion by Negi to reduce the hosts to 70/3 in 10 overs. Rana's 28-ball knock comprised of four boundaries.
Unperturbed by the fall of Rana's wicket, skipper Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard (17) punished the Bangalore bowlers all around the park as they slammed 28 runs in 3.4 overs before the West Indian hitman was dismissed by Chahal.
Krunal Pandya (2) and Karn Sharma (9) also failed to step up to the situation and the latter was dismissed on nine runs while Pandya was retired hurt.
The fall of wicket brought in all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who along with Rohit Sharma played some good shots to entertain Mumbai's crowd.
In the process, Rohit completed his 50 with a single at the end of the 19th over.
With seven runs required in the last over, Pandya and Sharma took singles off the first four balls and then the skipper slammed a boundary to give the hosts a comfortable victory.
For Bangalore, Negi scalped two wickets while Choudhary, Chahal and Shane Watson chipped in with one wicket each.
Earlier, it was Kiwi pacer Mitchell McClenaghan who claimed three wickets as Mumbai Indians produced a disciplined bowling
performance to restrict Royal Challengers Bangalore to a modest 162 for 5.
Besides McClenaghan (3/34), Krunal Pandya (2/34) took two wickets, while Karn Sharma (1/23) and Jasprit Bumrah (1/33) accounted for wicket apiece after RCB skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat.
For RCB, AB de Villiers (43) emerged as the top-scorer after he blasted three fours and as many sixes during his 27-ball innings, while Pawan Negi (35) and Kedar Jadhav (28) provided the late charge to take the team past 150-mark.
Electing to bat, RCB lost their first wicket in the fourth over when Mandeep Singh (17) went for the slog sweep and was caught by Hardik Pandya.
In the sixth over, McClenaghan removed Virat Kohli (20) when the RCB skipper flicked a slower ball straight to short midwicket and Rohit Sharma took a simple catch as the visitors slipped to 40/2.
New man AB then blasted McClenaghan over backward point for a four before sending him over sweeper cover for a maximum as RCB scored 52-2 in the powerplay overs.
The South African gave Krunal Pandya the same treatment as RCB accumulated 13 runs off the ninth over. After 10 overs, they were 80 for 2 but Travis Head (12) holed out to Hardik at deep midwicket and RCB slumped to 85-3.
De Villiers brought up the 100 with a six off Krunal over the square leg boundary but was dismissed in the next delivery by the bowler for the fourth time in as many meetings.
Shane Watson's poor run continued and he went down cheaply again to leave RCB struggling at 108-5 in 13.4 overs.
Negi and Jadhav then steadied the innings, taking ones and twos, to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Negi finally exploded in the 18th over, producing a couple of sixes off Lasith Malinga over extra cover and long-off, before smashing maximum over long-on boundary in the next over to bring up 150.
The final over yielded just five runs as McClenaghan dismissed Negi and Jadhav in successive deliveries, while S Aravind ran himself out while looking for a single.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 162 for 8 in 20 overs (AB de Villiers 43; Pawan Negi 35; Mitchell McClenaghan 3/34).
Mumbai Indians: 165 for 5 in 19.5 overs (Rohit Sharma 56 not out, Jos Butler 33; Pawan Negi 2/17).
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