While chasing a daunting target of 202 runs against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 10th match of the Premier League (IPL) 2020, Mumbai Indians (MI) all-rounder, Kieron Pollard gave the testimony why he is one of the hardest hitters of the cricket ball. He fired when his team needed him the most as Pollard smashed 60* off 24 balls, still MI lost the match which ended in a super over. Earlier in the game, AB de Villiers and Devdutt Padikkal had scored the fifties in the first innings.
Earlier, MI skipper, Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl first and RCB had amassed as many as 201 runs for the loss for just three wickets in their quota of 20 overs owing to brilliant fifties from Aaron Finch Devdutt Padikkal, and AB de Villiers.
WATCH – Kieron Pollard Smashed Adam Zampa For 27 Runs
ABD played really well as after hitting Krunal Pandya for boundaries in his first few balls, he decided to target Jasprit Bumrah in the 17th over, where AB de Villiers smashed 17 runs. For MI, Trent Boult was the wrecker-in-chief as he got a couple of wickets involving Padikkal and Finch.
During the chase, MI never got the momentum they required as they had lost Rohit Sharma and Suryakuamr Yadav in the powerplay itself. However, Ishant Kishan along with Quinton de Kock tried to make a partnership but the latter was also dismissed by Yuzvendra Chahal in the 7th over followed by a dismissal of Hardik Pandya in the 12th over. The came Kieron Pollard out to bat, he played slow in the initial part of his innings, but in the last four overs, he went berserk.
ALSO READ: Netizens Applaud As AB de Villiers Smashed Jasprit Bumrah
Adam Zampa came out to bowl the 17th over, with MI requiring 80 runs to win the and the target was looking impossible but Pollard had some different plans as he smashed 27 runs of Zampa followed by 22 runs in the 18th over of Chahal. MI was still requiring 31 runs in the last couple of over then Navdeep Saini gave just 12 runs in the penultimate over. Isuru Udad came out to bowl and then when MI needed 17 off the last four balls, Kishan smashed a couple of sixes before getting out at 99 on the penultimate delivery.
Pollard smashed the last ball for a four when they needed 5 runs and the game reached the super over. For RCB, Saini bowled the super over and conceded just 7 runs and also got the wicket of Kieron Pollard. For MI, Jasprit Bumrah was bowling the super over and he almost got the wicket of AB de Villiers on the third ball but DRS helped the batsman and ABD smashed the boundary on the next ball and Virat Kohli completed a win for his team with a nail-biting finish.
Match Summary:
Royal Challengers Bangalore –201/3 in 20 overs and 8/0 in super over (AB de Villiers: 55*, D Padikkal: 54; T Boult: 2/34) defeatedMumbai Indians –201/5 in 20 overs and 7/1 in super over (I Kishan: 99, K Pollard: 60; I Udana: 2/45) in the super over
Here is how Twitterati reacted to RCB’s nail-biting win:-
Navdeep Saini. 0/43 from 4. Scorecard does NOT do his contribution justice today. 👏👏👏 #RCBvMI #IPL2020
— Raunak Kapoor (@RaunakRK) September 28, 2020
Super over Just Wooooooooww #IPL2020
— Rashid Khan (@rashidkhan_19) September 28, 2020
Well at least I’m on my couch 😂 #IPL2020
— Jimmy Neesham (@JimmyNeesh) September 28, 2020
Well played to both teams.
Unbelievable Cricket! #RCBvMI #IPL2020
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) September 28, 2020
Fewest runs scored in Super Over by team batting first in IPL:
3 – KXIP v DC, 2020 (Rabada)
7 – MI v RCB, 2020 (Saini)
8 – SRH v MI, 2019 (Bumrah)
9 – CSK v KXIP, 2010 (Theron)#IPL2020 #RCBvMI— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) September 28, 2020
This is invaluable experience for Navdeep Saini who has been genuinely world class today. First that excellent 19th over. Now this in the super over
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) September 28, 2020
Wow this is incredible cricket #RCBvMI speechless, heart broke for #ishankishan
— arjun rampal (@rampalarjun) September 28, 2020
Can we handle these games?? Phewwwwwww. Well done @RCBTweets for winning this stellar match #ABDevilliers #chahal #saini #sundar #dube #Devduttpadikkal #Finch
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) September 28, 2020
The best gift of 2020, the Indian Premier League.#RCBvMI
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) September 28, 2020
Cmon india .. don’t go any where it’s IPL….fasten ur seat belts .. just WOW..@bcci @IPL
— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) September 28, 2020
I think @KieronPollard55 and @ishankishan51 should have come to bat in the super over ! They were set bodies were warm ! I think @rcb will just get out of jail here ? What say #IPL2020 cause @rcb has mr 360 @ABdeVilliers17
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) September 28, 2020