RCB return to winning ways at the expense of Mumbai Indians in thrilling run fest

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru returned to winning ways, blowing out Mumbai Indians in a high-scoring encounter in Wankhede. A Phil Salt special combined with Rajat Patidar’s smash and grab knock saw RCB sailing hammer and tongs across the finish line in front of a packed house in Mumbai.

Winning the toss, Mumbai opted to bowl first. RCB had two changes to the side from the side that faced Rajasthan Royals. Jacob Duffy came in place of Josh Hazlewood while Suyash Sharma came in place of Abhinandan Singh. Put to bat first, RCB had no dilemma about starting in the fifth gear as the season saw its first Salt Assault.

Phil Salt and Virat Kohli hunkered down to business straight away and would only deal in boundaries. Salt brought up his half-century in just 25 balls, hammering Mitchell Santner for a boundary. RCB totted up 71 runs from their powerplay as Salt feasted upon the Mumbai bowling attack.

The duo of Salt and Kohli added 120 runs for the opening stand from just 65 balls with the former doing the majority of the heavy-lifting. Shardul Thakur would eventually claim the Englishman but by then he had already slingshot himself to 78 from just 36 balls. Salt dropped his signature masterclass, hammering six fours and six sixes.

The fall of Salt saw a change in RCB’s batting order as their captain, Rajat Patidar got a promotion. The introduction of RaPa came more like a living nightmare for Mumbai Indians. Patidar started in the fifth gear and continued the carnage exactly from where Salt left.

Virat Kohli hung in at the other end and eventually brought up his half-century from 37 balls, gliding one towards deep-square leg against Hardik Pandya. But that was the last of Kohli in this innings as Pandya claimed him on the very next ball that he faced. However, it hardly could be the spanner in RCB’s plans as Rajat Patidar maintained the tempo at the other end.

The RCB captain brought up his second consecutive half-century in just 17 balls, carrying the same rich vein of form since the start of the fray. Much to his woes, he fell in that very over against Mitchell Santner for a 20-ball-53 as RCB were cruising at 194/3 from 16 overs.

The departure of Patidar slowed things down for the Royal Challengers as in the final four overs they could only garner 46 runs, which by the standards of Patidar and company felt like a fall from the fifth gear in which they operated. Tim David stayed unbeaten for 34 off just 16 balls while Jitesh Sharma took some time to get a move on. For the fourth time in the last four games, RCB managed to cross the 200-run-barrier, setting a target of 241 for the hosts.

Mumbai got off to a flyer as Ryan Rickelton (37) regulated the charge while Rohit Sharma (19*) held fort at the other end with occasional bursts of belligerence. Much to the shock of the Mumbai fans, Sharma had to retire hurt after restricted movements in the fifth over and that allowed RCB to force their way in.

The introduction of Suyash Sharma in the eighth over worked its magic straightaway as he claimed Rickelton. A googly floated up saw Rickelton slashing at it and his skier nestled in the hands of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Sharma struck for the second time in the same over, removing an incoming Tilak Varma (1).

Mumbai tried fighting back through an incoming Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav. The duo looked good for their presence in the center but somehow with the asking rate almost leapfrogging in every single ball, the partnership started taking a lot more risks. The stand added 47 runs for the third wicket before Krunal Pandya struck to dismiss SKY (33).

Jacob Duffy got on the scorecard next as he got rid of Hardik Pandya (40). Rasikh Salam added to the wounds of MI, getting the better of Naman Dhir (1) in the very next over. Things could have closed down in that very over itself as Romario Shepherd took a blinder off his own bowling only to realizes that he has overstepped. The following free-hit as well saw Sherfane Rutherford being caught by Rajat Patidar.

Sherfane Rutherford (71*) offered a bit of late sheen to the Mumbai innings but the damage was already irreparable by then. RCB secured a win by 18 runs to make it three out of four wins. Suyash Sharma claimed two wickets while Krunal Pandya finished with figures of 1/26 from his allotment of four overs. Phil Salt won the Player of the Match award for his 36-ball-78.