RCB thump MI; make it three wins in a row

Dominion was at its peak as the Royal Challengers Bangalore thumped an ailing Mumbai. A young Anuj Rawat spearheaded a modest chase, propelling RCB to their third consecutive win of the season.

Faf won the third toss in a row and elected to field first on an unknown surface that detected an alarming presence of green, assuring some early seam movement. Mumbai Indians was off to a blinder as Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan took off after a slow start and made good use of the fielding restrictions stitching together a crucial 50 runs partnership.

It was Harshal Patel who drew first blood for the Challengers as he stunned Rohit with a slow peach, eking out the all-important mishit. The fall of Rohit triggered an instant collapse as the Indians went from 50 for 1 to 62 for 5, as Hasaranga dealt a double whammy while Glenn Maxwell chimed in with an electric piece of fielding to run Tilak Varma out.

Patel struck again in a while to open the gates for the Mumbai tail-enders but Suryakumar Yadav played a brilliant role that arrested Mumbai's decline in the middle and gave them a beacon of hope as they racked up 151. Jaydev Unadkat complemented Suryakumar Yadav with an anchoring role, even conjuring a handful of boundaries in the process, keeping the contest a tad bit competitive.

RCB started the chase on a slow note with Faf being wary of his surroundings but it was Anuj Rawat who took over the reins smashing Unadkat for a couple of staggering maximums, clarifying his intent for the forthcoming overs.

The RCB captain couldn’t really conjure the storm that is usually expected from the big man and fell to scrambled seam of Unadkat who provided the initial glimmer of hope to the Indians. However, Virat Kohli came out in the middle and effaced all immediate fears as he stitched together a stellar 48.

Rawat kept the scoreboard ticking with occasional boundaries wherein the duo seemed super charged in the middle as they kept on running like madmen. The synergy of Kohli and Rawat stuck together for 80 runs, that almost sealed the fate of the tie for the Challengers.

Glenn Maxwell finished the chase in sumptuous fashion taking out Dewald Brevis for two consecutive boundaries, one of which was his signature switch-hit, sending the RCB fans into an explosion of frenzied rapture.