After struggling for the first three IPL matches of Mumbai, captain of the team arrived back in form in style as he smashed 94 in 52 balls to take Mumbai Indians to a formidable score of 213/6 against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Wankhede Stadium. It was a night belonging to Evin Lewis and Rohit Sharma who kept scoring at an incredible rate after Yadav’s frantic start.
Powerplay Overs (1-6) – MI 60/1
Royal Challengers Bangalore had a dream start at the Wankhede! Umesh Yadav who had been hit out of the park in the last match bowled two perfect deliveries to open the innings for Bangalore. He bowled Surya Kumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan with his first two balls directed at the top of off-stump. Mumbai Indians 0/2!
Then came Rohit Sharma, who was struggling runs, he started off slowly again while Evin Lewis took control of the batting and started striking the ball hard. Washington Sundar conceded 19 while Siraj conceded 16 runs his first over to take MI’s powerplay score to 60.
Middle Overs (7-16) – MI 153/4
Even after the powerplay overs, Mumbai Indians kept going at the Bangalore bowling. It was majorly Evin Lewis who was setting the stage on fire. It was Corey Anderson, included today in place of Brendon McCullum, who took the key wicket of Lewis. When the opener got out for 65(42), MI stood at 108/3 in the 12th over.
After Lewis’ dismissal, it was the captain Rohit Sharma who took the steering of the ship and started showing why he is called the Hitman. Rohit welcomed Umesh Yadav in his second spell with a six off his first ball. He struck 15 runs in Yadav’s opening over setting himself up for the death overs.
Death Overs (17-20) – MI 213/6
The last four overs of the Mumbai innings went for 13, 11, 15 and 21 runs, totaling 60 runs in the death overs. Rohit Sharma hunting for his second century in the IPL was going strong as he alone was responsible for 33 runs in those overs. Hardik Pandya revived the memories of the last season when he came out at the end and slammed 17* off five balls after he received a reprieve on the first ball.
Mumbai has piled up a huge score to be chased. Will Kohli and ABD powered RCB be able to chase this?
