Bengaluru: West Indian Kieron Pollard and England’s Jos Buttler exploded on time to take Mumbai Indians to a thrilling six-wicket win over hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore in the lone match of the day in Indian Premier League on Wednesday.
Chasing 152 to win, holders Mumbai were off to a poor start when they lost opener Parthiv Patel for only two.
A 58-run partnership between skipper Rohit Sharma (25) and Amvati Rayudu (44) laid the foundation for victory though it was finally left to Pollard and Buttler to ring in a much-needed victory.
Pollard’s 35 (off 19 deliveries) contained three boundaries and two sixes while Buttler’s cameo was invaluable as he got 29 off 11 (one four, three sixes).
Earlier with their top three batsmen misfiring, Royal Challengers Bangalore could manage a score of only 151/4 in 20 overs.
Skipper Virat Kohli (6), Chris Gayle (4), Shane Watson (15) and Abraham De Villiers (24) did not live up to the day and only lone ranger K.L. Rahul saved the day for Royal Challengers with a defiant 53-ball-68, remaining unbeaten.
Losing Kohli and Gayle quickly, Royal Challengers lost the momentum to find themselves in a slow paced one-day international kind of situation. Even after six overs, RCB managed to score only 25/2.
Despite being dropped in the last IPL match played at Bengaluru, Gayle is consistently continuing his ‘unit score innings streak’. He misfired in the fourth over off Tim Southee to be caught on the long on.
Though De Villiers looked promising after the early jolt RCB received with the loss of quick wickets, he too fizzled with a low score but managed to hit a six and a four.
The same fate awaited Shane Watson (15). He looked formidable with a six and four but was caught short of the crease in a run-out effected by Rohit Sharma.
It was Rahul who saved the day for Royal Challengers to put a somewhat decent total for the team. Proving to be a vital cog in the wheel, he played a responsible role, peppering his innings with four sixes and three fours.
In the end, Sachin Baby joined Rahul in the final overs to salvage the innings for Royal Challengers. He hit a valuable 13-ball 25 loaded with two sixes and two fours.
Altogether, RCB suffered 51 dot balls in the innings.
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma made the most of the toss win.
Except for Kieron Pollard who gave away 22 runs in one over, all the other MI bowlers maintained an enviable economy rate for a 20twenty match, which ranged between 3.75 to 8.75 runs in their quota of four overs.
Krunal Pandya 1/15 exhibited the best bowling performance for MI with a economy of 3.75, followed by Tim Southee 1/27 with a rate of 6.75.
Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 151/4 in 20 overs: (Lokesh Rahul 68, Sachin Baby 25; Krunal Pandya 1/15, Tim Southee 1/27) vs Mumbai Indians 153/4 off 18.4 overs (Amvati Rayudu 44, K.Pollard 35, J.Buttler; Varun Aaron 2/37). Mumbai won by six wickets.
