IPL 2018: Match 31, MI vs RCB- Rating of the Match

Both Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and the Mumbai Indians (MI) gasped for breath ahead of the game. They were staring down elimination and couldn’t have afforded another goof-up. Both teams started in a similar manner when two of their gun players couldn’t take the field for them. AB de Villiers and Evin Lewis aren’t modest names by any stretch of the imagination.

The pitch was dry and the dew hadn’t settled in and hence batting was bound to be tricky in the first instance. Rohit Sharma made a smart choice and elected to field. RCB misread the track and dropped Murugan Ashwin, which was bewildering to say the least. Kohli continued to make changes to the lineup. He demoted himself and Brendon McCullum one position down the order.

Erratic Mumbai help RCBs batsman

Meanwhile, Manan Vohra was promoted to open and he didn’t let his captain down. On the contrary, the strategy employed by Rohit Sharma to give the new ball to JP Duminy boomeranged on them as the right-hander bashed him with sheer ease. He was, surprisingly, trusted in the second over as well and Vohra took full toll of the bowling and Duminy conceded 28 runs at 14 runs per over.

Mumbai had RCB by the scruff of their necks but allowed them off the hook with some lacklustre bowling. The 10th over by Hardik Pandya leaked 20 runs, while Mitchell McClenaghan conceded 24 runs in the final over, which helped RCB notch a mammoth total. Both pacers bowlers bowled a no-ball each, which also resulted in six runs. Co-incidentally, both their free-hits also went into the stands.

Match killed in three overs?  

Mumbai’s middle order hasn’t been tested to a large extent. The likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Evin Lewis have scored most of their runs. In Lewis’ absence, the youngsters had to step up as they had form in their favour. They perished within the blink of an eye and Mumbai found themselves in all sorts of trouble. Tim Southee started with an absolute ripper, which left Kishan in utter shock.

Suryakumar had to make it count, but Umesh Yadav’s body blow meant that Mumbai were staring at defeat. The horror of horrors, Rohit Sharma was cut into two halves by Yadav and Mumbai looked down the barrel for another defeat and maybe, an ouster from the tournament. The heart of the batting was ripped apart and they found themselves in tatters.

The vicious turners by Chahal

The pitch was expected to change with the introduction of dew, but that was not the case as the ball gripped the pitch and turned square. Meanwhile, they also planted cobwebs of doubts into the minds of the batsmen. Subsequently, they treated Yuzvendra Chahal with respect as he turned an array of deliveries right across the face of the batsmen.

That allowed the required run-rate to mount in an alarming manner because of which Mumbai found themselves behind the 8-ball. Rohit Sharma’s men eventually fell short by 14 runs and the glaring most element in the run chase was that despite RCB giving away 23 extras, which included as many as 18 wides, Mumbai couldn’t even get close to the target, which showed their dismal state of mind as a team.

Rating of the Match- 5