IPL 2018: Match 14, MI vs RCB- Who Said What

The game between Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) turned out to be a one-sided encounter and was comprehensively won by Rohit Sharma’s men by 46 runs. Amidst the dullness, Rohit and Virat Kohli entertained the packed house at the Wankhede with their stupendous display of batting. On a beautiful batting wicket, the visiting skipper elected to chase.

Rohit strikes form and guides Mumbai

Mumbai’s start was a horrendous one as Umesh Yadav nipped out the wickets of Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan on successive deliveries, which added to the agony of the home team. However, Rohit Sharma and Evin Lewis made a strong statement playing a fearless brand of cricket. Subsequently, they racked up a stand of 108 runs, which dragged Mumbai out of the pits.

Lewis was eventually bagged by Corey Anderson, but Rohit carried on in his own merry way and scored 94 runs, which included 10 boundaries and five whacks over the ropes. The stupendous knock by the Mumbaikar helped his team post a daunting target of 214 runs. Meanwhile, the visitors didn’t have much to cheer after Yadav’s double-strike.

Mumbai open their account   

Bangalore started handsomely as Virat Kohli and Quinton de Kock blazed away. However, Mitchell McClenaghan got rid of the Proteas batsman after which the visitors completely lost momentum. On the other hand, Kohli showed his class as a batsman, creaming the bowlers with ease. Nevertheless, they kept losing quick wickets at the other end, which never allowed RCB to make a comeback.

AB de Villiers had to deliver in order for the visitors to chase down the target, but that wasn’t the case as he became McClenaghan’s second victim in the same over. The RCB skipper eventually fought a lone battle and played until the very end. Subsequently, with the knock of 92 runs, he also clinched the Orange Cap and is also the leading run scorer in the history of the IPL.

Virat Kohli, captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore said

“It was a good game of cricket as far as Mumbai were concerned. I don’t feel like wearing this (orange cap) right now because it really doesn’t matter. We got off to a great start but we just threw it away, and need to reflect on our dismissals. We knew there would be a little bit of dew, we needed not your 40-45s but 80-85s. In the end it was all about making sure that the run-rate doesn’t take a hit; credit to Mumbai though, they bowled really well.

We didn’t get any chances, we bowled in the areas we thought were good but they counter-attacked well. When you have your backs against the wall you do come out with a performance like this and that’s what they did. Even after they were two wickets down they showed resilience like good teams do. We tried our hardest but we just couldn’t get wickets in the middle stages.”

Rohit Sharma, the Mumbai skipper and today’s Player of the Match said

“It wasn’t the ideal start for us. I thought Umesh bowled in the right areas. The wicket was still soft when I went in. So it was important to spend some time and it was better to bat with the dew coming in. It was a perfect game for us. We lost the last three games, but we were playing good cricket. I think me batting at 4 gives the balance to the side and gives the new guys the freedom to bat at the top. It is important to finish off games. But I will do whatever the team wants in terms of batting position to get the right balance for the side. Lewis is exciting to watch. Once he gets a start, it’s hard to bowl at him.”

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