On Tuesday night, the defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) suffered another defeat and this time against the hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore by 14 runs at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bengaluru).

Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma decided to bowl first after winning the toss. Mumbai bowlers mostly bowled very well during the first innings of the game and restricted the hosts for 167/7 at the end of 20 overs.

In reply, the visiting team lost their top-orders very early. Despite hard fights from the next batsmen, MI was short from the target as they managed to score 153/7 in 20 overs.

Now, we will briefly talk about some important reasons for MI’s defeat in this game.

Colin de Grandhomme’s last-over brutal knock; Mitchell McClenaghan conceded 24-run in that final over

While MI bowlers were bowling superbly in the death overs as RCB only managed to add just 20 runs from 16^th to 19^th overs, it was looking like RCB could hardly reach the 150-mark. However, Colin de Grandhomme’s sudden brutal knock in the last over change the momentum of the game.

Left-arm MI pacer Mitchell McClenaghan came to bowl in the last over of RCB’s innings who had a brilliant bowling figure of 3-0-11-1 before that over. However, he conceded total 24-run in that final over including three sixes and one free-hit and it finally proved costly for the defending champions MI.

Early top-order failure

MI needed a good start to chase that 168-run target in the tough pitch. However, the visitors’ early top-order collapse denied for a good start. While opener Ishan Kishan and no.4 batsman Rohit Sharma scored the golden ducks, another opener Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed for just 9 runs.

Soon, no.5 batsman Kieron Pollard was out after scoring just 13 runs while no.3 batsman JP Duminy showed some fight with the bat as he scored 23 runs off 29 balls in that tough period before he was dismissed through the run-out.

MI was at one stage 47/4 and that hugely hampered their smooth chasing strategy.

Only one boundary during 11-15 overs (29 runs scored with the 5.80 run-rate)

In the important period of MI innings between 11-15 overs, MI batsmen managed to add only 29 runs with just one boundary. In that period, their run-rate was just 5.80 which raised their required run-rate to over 12 at the end of the 15^th over.

That was the period when RCB strengthen their position on the game which they utilised well in the final moments and clinched a crucial victory in this season.

18^th and 19^th over in MI innings

During the MI innings, Tim Southee and young 24-year-old Mohammed Siraj had to bowl in the crucial 17^th and 18^th overs respectively while the visitors needed to score 35 runs in 18 balls and Pandya brothers were well set on the pitch.

Both bowled extremely well and conceded only 5 runs in their respective overs as MI had to chase a hardest 25 runs in the final over which they failed to get at the end.

While earlier some moments helped RCB to stay in the game strongly, those two crucial overs almost secured the game for the hosts.