In the 31st game of IPL 2018, hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) claimed a crucial 14-run victory against Mumbai Indians (MI) at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bengaluru) on Tuesday night. While RCB managed to score 167/7 in 20 overs, they restricted MI for just 153/7 at the end of 20 overs.
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma decided to field first after winning the toss. While RCB opener Quinton de Kock scored only 7 runs, other top-order batsmen scored 30+ runs. Another opener Manan Vohra played an important 45 runs knock while no.3 batsman Brendon McCullum and no.4 batsman Virat Kohli scored 37 runs and 32 runs respectively.
During that innings, there was an important third wicket partnership for 60 runs between McCullum and skipper Kohli. However, RCB batsmen struggled hugely in the death overs while they had not much set batsman at that stage. It was looking like RCB would hardly manage the 150 runs mark, but Colin de Grandhomme batted superbly in the last over as RCB got 24 runs in that final over. As a result, RCB managed to score 167/7 in 20 overs while Grandhomme was not out at the end for 23 runs off just 10 balls with 3 sixes.
Among the Mumbai bowlers, Hardik Pandya (3/28) got three wickets while Mitchell McClenaghan (1/34), Jasprit Bumrah (1/22) and Mayank Markande (1/28) claimed one wicket each.
Chasing down the target, Mumbai lost their top-orders very early. It put them under pressure but they returned in the game with some stable partnerships in the middle. At first, JP Duminy and Hardik Pandya put an important 37-run partnership for the fifth wicket and then Hardik put another crucial 56-run partnership with his elder brother Krunal Pandya for the sixth wicket. These three are the only batsmen for Mumbai to reach 20-run mark in the game. However, they fell short at the end as MI only managed to score 153/7 at the end of 20 overs.
While Hardik scored the highest runs of 50 off 42 balls, Duminy and Krunal both scored 23 runs before getting out.
Among the RCB bowlers, Tim Southee (2/25), Umesh Yadav (2/29) and Mohammed Siraj (2/28) picked up two wickets each.
Here are some Twitter reactions of the match:
Mumbai's last over, in which Grandhomme caused mayhem, cost them dear. But run chase looked disorganised. Barring Hardik and to some extent Duminy, no one else came to terms with pitch or RCB bowling
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) May 1, 2018
The bowlers finally coming good collectively for RCB and they win.
Southee very good at the death, Umesh and Siraj were exceptional.
Kohli will be particularly happy that they could defend 35 from the last 3. Much needed win for @RCBTweets #RCBvsMI— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) May 1, 2018
Top bowling performance with the new and old ball by #RCB. Especially Siraj. Good for him. Good for #RCB Good for Indian cricket. #IPL #RCBvMI
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 1, 2018
Perfect ad doesn't exist??#IPL2018 #RCBvMI #rcb #MumbaiIndians pic.twitter.com/F4bSvNEoin
— Aditi. (@Sassy_Soul_) May 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/Aarushiiiiiiiii/status/991378658500710400
Rohit Sharma to play-offs chances. #RCBvMI pic.twitter.com/GVvW6X12i9
— Karan Talwar (@BollywoodGandu) May 1, 2018
RCB wins the match without AB De Villiers.#RCBvMI
— Sunil the Cricketer (@1sInto2s) May 1, 2018
71 wides by #RCB in this #IPL. 8th game isn’t over yet. 10 wides today already. That’s nearly 12 extra overs bowled. #RCBvMI #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 1, 2018
You saw Williamson walking, you saw Kohli not. You can be a good batsman but noone can teach you to be a good person #RCBvMI
— Keerti (@Keerti_RL) May 1, 2018
Pic1: Hardik Pandya against saste spinners
Pic2: Hardik Pandya against quality bowling pic.twitter.com/H7qrMu9SeS— The Lying Lama 2.0 (@KyaUkhaadLega) May 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/High_On_Hash/status/991381219110567936
https://twitter.com/46Sampath/status/991335488417161216
https://twitter.com/Shaban4SRK/status/991378624161898496
Colin de Grandhomme is God
— Abhishek ✨ (@ImAbhishek7_) May 1, 2018
Atlast Colin de grandhomme wake up #RCBvMI #IPL2018
— Dhayal (@Dayal9505) May 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/TroluKejri/status/991367929093541888
https://twitter.com/SirIshantSharma/status/991357776281645056
Golden Duck For Rohit Sharma. Rohit Sharma Is Back In Form. 💪#RCBvMI #RCBvsMI
— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) May 1, 2018
Very poor knock from Krunal. Never got going.
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) May 1, 2018
#RCBvMI
Two minutes silence for MI fans.. pic.twitter.com/xuvya4zmQh— siddik (@sid_siddik) May 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/mashur_gulati/status/991381756535242754
