One of the biggest rivals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) history, Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royals Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are locking horns with each other at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and the hosts came out as the winner. After winning the toss, the MI skipper, Rohit Sharma asked the visitors to bat first. However, the hosts started on a rough note as both their openers, Virat Kohli an and Parthiv Patel got dismissed in the first powerplay overs itself and eventually, they lost the game as well.
During the toss, the RCB skipper, Kohli revealed that they have made no changes to their winning squad. On the other hand, MI skipper revealed that they had a forced change as the young pacer Alzarri Joseph got dislocated his shoulder and he was replaced by none other than Lasith Malinga.
After the dismissals of both the openers early in the innings, the in-form AB de Villiers was looking in the mood as he enthralled the capacity audience present at Wankhede with his breathtaking strokeplay. He scored a magnificent 75 to power the visitors to a competitive total of 171/7 in 20 overs.
WATCH – AB de Villiers Clobbered Lasith Malinga For A Huge Six
Losing too many wickets
Along with De Villiers, Moeen Ali added as many as 95 runs for the third wicket as he himself scored a fifty Before getting out in the 18th over and in the same over, Marcus Stoinis also got out without troubling the scorers. During his entertaining knock, ABD smashed six boundaries and four huge sixes.
One particular hit against the world’s best death bowler – Lasith Malinga was unarguably the shot of the RCB innings. ABD knelt down, stayed low and scoops the ball over fine leg for a huge six in the final over of the match. He got out in the same over of the same and soon after that RCB lost two more wickets in just three balls.
During the chase, both the MI openers, Rohit and Quinton de Kock started smashing the RCB bowlers from the word go as they amassed as many as 67 runs for the power play. They added 70 runs for the first wicket before the skipper getting out to Ali on the first ball of the 8th over followed by De Kock on the fourth ball of the over.
WATCH – Moeen Ali Gets Both The MI Openers In His First Over
After the dismissals of the openers, Surya Kumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan added 33 runs for the third wicket before the latter got out in the 11th over. Yadav also got out early in the 16th over leaving MI requiring more than 40 runs in last 5 overs. Both the Pandya brothers, Hardik and Krunal was batting and the elder one got out to Mohammad Siraj in the 18th over with RCB requiring off the last two overs.
Hardik’s finish
Pawan Negi came out to bowl in the 19th over and he started with the dot but what followed in the next four balls was a complete massacre from Hardik. He smashed two sixes and as many fours followed by a single on the final delivery to take MI over the line with 6 balls to spare.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indians – 172/5 in 19 overs (Quinton de Kock: 40, H Pandya: 37*; M Ali: 2/18) defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore – 171/7 in 20 overs (AB de Villiers: 75, M Ali: 50; L Malinga: 4/31) by 5 wickets and 6 balls to spare
