Mumbai Indians’ Jasprit Bumrah celebrates with team-mates after dismissing AB de Villiers of Royal Challengers Bangalore during the IPL in Bangalore yesterday. (BCCI)
Agencies/Bengaluru
Mumbai Indians opened their account in IPL 2015 defeating hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore by 18 runs in a high-scoring contest at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. After being put in to bat, MI posted 209 for 7 – the highest total of the competition, and then restricted the home side to 191-7.
It was the batsmen – who have had endured some difficult times in the earlier matches – who set up the match for MI. The opening pair of Lendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel guided their team to 47, after which MI consolidated through cameos from Unmukt Chand and skipper Rohit Sharma.
Simmons set the ball rolling as the West Indian batsman picked up three boundaries off Varun Aaron in the fourth over and dispatched two to the fence in Abu Nechim’s fifth over. Unmukt Chand, who batted at three, didn’t waste too much time to feast on. Mumbai Indians were placed at 83 for 1 at the half-way stage.
Simmons top-edged an attempted slog-sweep that landed in the hands of fine-leg to perish after a well-made 59 from 44 balls.
Then, skipper Rohit Sharma went hammer and tongs on the helpless RCB bowlers. MI lost wickets in a rush in the final three overs – including those of Chand (58 from 37 balls, 8 fours & 2 sixes) and Sharma (42 from 15 balls, three fours & 4 sixes). From 176 for 2 at the start of the 18th over, MI lost five wickets adding 33 runs to their total, to finish at 209 for 7 – the highest total of Pepsi IPL 2015.
For RCB, the leg-spinner Chahal was the pick of the bowlers, returning with respectable figures of two for 28 from his four overs. Debutant David Wiese was the most successful bowler, returning figures of 4 for 33.
In reply, RCB opening pair of Chris Gayle and Manvinder Bisla found it difficult to adjust to the pace of the pitch Both were cleaned up by the off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. Bisla (20 from 16 balls) was the first to go in the fifth over, while Gayle made an uncharacteristic 10 (24 balls) before both had their stumps disturbed.
When both Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik were dismissed, RCB were left needing 113 more runs from 7.5 overs.
AB de Villiers lit up the stadium with an incredible assault but once he was dismissed in the 15th over – after scoring 41 from 11 balls – the contest was all but done and dusted.
Wiese made it a dream IPL debut scoring 47 but it was not enough on the night for RCB.
