Hardik Pandya threatened a grand heist with a sensational 15-ball 42 but RCB prevailed in a thriller, winning by 12 runs. Virat Kohli sizzled with a classy fifty, Rajat Patidar sparkled with a spunky half ton as RCB piled 221 and managed to get past Hardik and Tilak Varma to register a special win.
RCB had lost their last six games at the Wankhede stadium but they breached the fortress with a scintillating batting display and by holding their nerves in the chase. Kohli turned on the run tap with an innings of quality, repeatedly taking on the bowlers before Patidar gave them a dream finish. The leggie Suyash Sharma held Mumbai back in the middle overs but Hardik and Tilak nearly seized the night until Josh Hazlewood and Krunal Pandya intervened to stop them at 209/9.
Finally, a proper rollercoaster
RCB prevailed but not without sweating profusely as Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma threatened a great heist but both fell in quick succession to leave the rest with too much.
But until then, what drama. Who could have said that the best thing to have happened to Mumbai Indians in the 222-run chase was the dismissal of Suryakumar Yadav. When Suryakumar fell, the equation read 122 from 48 balls. In a Mumbai minute, Hardik Pandya changed everything with an astonishing assault on Josh Hazlewood and his brother Krunal Pandya, who would have the last laugh in the final over.
At one point Hardik was on 32 from just 7 balls. Also, not just Pandya but Tilak Verma, who was retired hurt last game as he struggled to get going, had his sweet redemption. Almost. He slammed 17 runs with slog and reverse sweeps against RCB’s best spinner on the night Suyash Sharma in the 13th over before Hardik took over imperiously.
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The cleanest striker of the white ball in India, and one of the best in the world, showed who is the boss. He took a middle stump guard against Hazlewood and didn’t take a meaningful stride either way. No one does the golf like hip and knee bends as imperiously effective as him. Pulls, drag-heaves, scything lofted hits and the crunchy cuts with furious bat-speed enabled him to loot 22 runs off Hazlewood in the 14th over.
He then whacked 19 in the 15th over from Krunal with two sixes over square-leg and long-off. Tilak picked off Bhuvneshwar and Yash Dayal for sixes but he fell bunting a slower one from Bhuvneshwar to sweeper cover to leave Mumbai needing 34 in 14.
And then Hazlewood intervened with a near yorker on the stump that Hardik shovelled to Liam Livingstone at deep midwicket. And it came down to 19 from the final over but Krunal defended it without much fuss.
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Kohli sizzles
We must begin the RCB innings with that Kohli six against Jasprit Bumrah, considering the context of Bumrah’s comeback, and the duel between the duo – Kohli was Bumrah’s first IPL wicket, and the state of competition in this edition where RCB are desperate to shrug off their past. Off Bumrah’s second ball, Kohli glided his back leg outside leg stump, exposing his stumps and absolutely walloped a ball homing in on the middle stump over the cow corner. Statement is one thing, the skill that made it not seem a slog was quite something.
𝐊𝐨𝐡𝐥𝐢-𝐭𝐲 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝
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But the sweetest Kohli boundary had come just prior to that against Trent Boult in the previous over. He had drag-pulled a back-of-length ball through mid wicket for four when he leaned forward to the next, a perfectly fine length ball, and gorgeously caressed it on the up through extra cover. Pure pizzazz.
It was that kind of a night from Kohli, who was in a mood to impose himself against every bowler coming into the attack. Will Jacks, who bowled the 4th over, was lofted to long-off boundary first ball and rammed through covers off the final delivery. Mitch Santner was slog swept to the cow corner, Deepak Chahar was pulled to backward square-leg boundary, and Vignesh Puthur was crash-landed into stands beyond wide long-on for a six. All these hits came off the bowler’s first overs and by the time of the dismissal of Devdutt Padikkal, who had taken 20 runs off the final Powerplay over off Chahar, RCB were 95 for 2 in 9 overs of mayhem.
But against the run of play, he fell in the 15th over, walking across the stumps to a well-outside off delivery from Hardik Pandya, but his bottom-handed swat found the deep mid wicket fielder.
Patidar’s captain’s knock
In that same over Kohli fell, Patidar would show how that shot is done, by working his wrists overtime to send the ball to backward square-leg boundary. Patidar had started by tapping the ball around to get to 8 from 10 before he fetched a ball well outside off from Hardik Pandya in the 13th over, conjuring it up and over his head to fine-leg boundary.
Innovation at its best!
Rajat Patidar brings out some unorthodox shots against his opposite number
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He tried again a couple of balls later but the ball rammed into his helmet, invoking a concussion check. Next ball, he upper cut to third man boundary, triggering an appreciative smile from Kohli. 11 runs came off that over as RCB reached 123 for 2. Patidar was also more authoritative against Santner, slamming him for two sixes over long-off. Where Kohli tried to back away, Patidar kept pinging the straight boundary.
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He was also the one to dismantle Pandya’s tactic of bowling well-outside off. He walked briskly across the off side to swat-pull to the on side and forced Pandya to bowl straighter. A straight six to bring up his 50 followed before he did a Kohli, standing still to unfurl a signature Kohli swat-flick to backward square-leg boundary. And as if he read the bowler’s mind, he shuffled to the off side to smash a ball over mid wicket as 23 runs came in that 17th over from Hardik, to follow the 16 in the previous over from Trent Boult.
Mumbai tried valiantly in the chase but Kohli, who wished during innings break that they would break the recent jinx at Wankhede, would have the final laugh. RCB now have a win against KKR at Eden Gardens, against CSK at Chepauk and against MI at Wankhede.