Bengaluru: Kieron Pollard’s 70 runs in 47 deliveries helped Mumbai Indians withstand a mesmerising spell from leg-spinner Samuel Badree, which included a hat-trick, as the visitors registered a four-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to go top of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with six points on Friday.
In pursuit of RCB’s 142/5, Mumbai had a horrendous start as Badree snared a hat-trick in the third over, removing Parthiv Patel (3), Mitchell McClanaghan (0) and Rohit Sharma (0) to reduce the visitors to 7/4, with opener Jos Buttler (2) having been dismissed by Stuart Binny in the second over.
In the second ball of the West Indian leg-spinner Badree’s second over, Parthiv offered a catch to Chris Gayle at short cover, while McClenaghan smashed a full toss into the hands of Mandeep Singh at long on. Facing the hat-trick ball, Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma couldn’t tackle a googly, which wrecked the stumps, to put Badree’s name against the 15th hat-trick in IPL history.
Badree didn’t stop there. He also sent back Nitish Rana (11) to cast a huge doubt over Mumbai’s hopes of overhauling the relatively small target. Overall, Badree gave away only nine runs in four overs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
But after the end of the brilliant spell from Badree, Mumbai’s seasoned all-rounder Pollard (70 off 47) kept his side afloat with a defiant knock. He dug his team out of the abyss with a 93-run sixth-wicket partnership with Krunal Pandya (37 not out off 30).
Pollard’s inning was studded with three fours and five sixes — three off left-arm spinner Pawan Negi — as he turned the match around on his own.
The partnership began slowly, the first focus being on weathering the storm. But as the pair spent some time together at the crease, they started growing in confidence.
With 52 required off the final five overs, Pollard’s two sixes over bowler Negi’s head tilted the match in favour of Mumbai, who tallied 19 runs from the over. In the following over from leg-spinner Yuzvender Chahal, Pollard sent another six soaring into the stands before the bowler had the last laugh as he holed out to AB de Villers at the long-on boundary.
By that time though, Pollard had done the job, with Mumbai needing only 17 runs off 15 balls at the fall of his wicket.
Krunal’s brother Hardik joined him at the crease and the two saw their side home with four wickets and 1.1 overs to spare.
Mumbai’s disciplined bowling show earlier restricted RCB to 142/5.
Though Mumbai played without their experienced pacer Lasith Malinga, their other bowlers bowled to their potential as RCB wasted a solid start given by skipper Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and De Villiers.
For Mumbai, McClenaghan scalped two wickets for 20 runs in four overs while Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya chipped in with one wicket each.
Kohli, who was injured during the third Test match against Australia, made his comeback in style with a fluent innings of 62 laced with five fours and two sixes.
The 28-year-old came out to bat at the top of the order with Gayle (22) and forged a 63-run partnership in 10 overs to give the RCB a perfect start.
But just as the duo had started shifting gears, Gayle, who blasted one six and two boundaries, fell to medium-pacer Hardik Pandya. A head-high short bowl did the trick for Mumbai as Gayle was caught by wicketkeeper Parthiv when he tried to pull the ball.
De Villiers (19) and Kohli subsequently kept the bowlers under pressure, Kohli reaching his fifty with a huge six. But soon after, Kohli was dismissed by pacer McClenaghan. The skipper had added 47 runs for the second wicket with De Villiers.
After adding five more runs with new batsman Kedar Jadhav (9), De Villiers too fell, sent packing by spinner Krunal Pandya in the 17th over.
The middle-order once again failed as two crucial batsmen, Kedar Jadhav and Mandeep Singh (0), were dismissed back to back, leaving Bangalore tottering at 127/5 in 18.1 overs.
Pawan Negi, who has not proved his worth so far in the cash-rich league, once again did not rise to the occasion as he scored 13 runs in 13 balls. His partner Stuart Binny scored six runs as Bangalore failed to get a boundary in the last 5.2 overs.
