Salt and Patidar shine as Royal Challengers Bengaluru overpower Mumbai Indians
Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Mumbai Indians by 18 runs in a high‑scoring IPL clash. Salt, Kohli and Patidar struck fifties as RCB posted 240. Despite Rutherford’s unbeaten 71, Mumbai managed only 222, with Hardik Pandya contributing 40
Mumbai: Riding on fifties by skipper Rajat Patidar, Phil Salt and Virat Kohli, a dominant Royal Challengers Bengaluru pummelled Mumbai Indians into submission, registering a comprehensive 18-run victory in their Indian Premier League contest here on Sunday.
Top-order troika of Salt (78), Kohli (50) and Patidar (53) along with Tim David’s 16-ball 34 not out guided RCB to a mammoth total of 240 for four, to which the star-studded Mumbai Indians responded with 222 for five.
MI had impact sub Sherfane Rutherford to thank for averting a heavy defeat as his late and valiant 31-ball 71 not out with a flurry of sixes (9) reduced the margin significantly.
Skipper Hardik Pandya made a 22-ball 40, but neither could impose themselves on the game which ended far beyond the regulation time.
Chasing 241, a top-heavy MI had an underwhelming powerplay which yielded 62 runs and by the end of it they also lost Rohit Sharma (19 retired hurt) to a right hamstring injury.
Despite Suryakumar Yadav replacing Rohit, MI were unable to get the launch pad to chase down a huge score. Ryan Rickelton (37 off 22 balls) did well at the top but twin blows in the eighth over from Suyash Sharma (2/47) left Mumbai reeling.
Rickelton was beaten by the bounce and a top edge was collected by Bhuvneshwar Kumar at short third man, but much to the host’s dismay, Tilak Varma (1) had yet another failure.
Looking to sweep the penultimate delivery, Tilak gave catching practice to Jacob Duffy at short fine leg.
Hardik and Suryakumar teamed up but there was no counter-attack. On a benign deck, MI did not hit a single six between overs 8-13 and despite a flurry of fours from Hardik in between, there wasn’t much from the others.
Suryakumar’s traditional sweep off Krunal Pandya went high in the air and Rasikh Dar, to his credit, judged the elevation perfectly to collect a regulation grab at deep backward square-leg.
Krunal was the pick among the bowlers for RCB with 4-0-26-1, mixing up his lengths with that occasional quick short ball which the batters tend to leave alone and MI were no different.
The fate of the contest was all but sealed when Hardik perished to Duffy, mishitting one to Romario Shepherd at deep third man.
Earlier, half-centuries from Kohli, Salt and Patidar provided the impetus as RCB finished with a massive 240 for four
Salt and Kohli put on 120 for the first wicket while Patidar and David produced rapid knocks in the second half to power the defending champions to a strong position
The proceedings began with Kohli unleashing a spectacular flick off the pads to hit a flat six off Trent Boult over deep square leg. While Kohli kept picking the odd boundary, it was his partner Salt who took the initiative to accelerate.
The Englishman made room to hit fast bowlers Boult and Hardik for boundaries. Boult was pulled into the stands with disdain for a six, while Mitchell Santner was pummelled for three consecutive sixes by Salt when the New Zealand captain erred with his lengths.
RCB’s charge — 50 came up in 4.2 overs — forced MI to bring back a wicketless Jasprit Bumrah for a second over in the powerplay which is not the norm.
Salt took a liking for leg-spinner Mayank Markande in the eighth over to smack three consecutive fours, while Kohli went after Santner’s third over to hit two more.
Desperate for a breakthrough, Mumbai Indians finally turned to Shardul Thakur who had Salt caught by Hardik at cover, ending RCB’s opening partnership at 120.
Aided by some ordinary bowling, Patidar came close to equalling the record for fastest IPL half-century but eventually completed it off 17 balls.
He started off by lifting Shardul Thakur over cover for a four and cashed in on some poor lengths by Markande to smack him for three consecutive sixes. In no time, Patidar had raced to 34 off nine.
Salt’s charge at the start followed by Patidar’s blitzkrieg (53 off 20 balls) in the middle overs allowed Kohli to farm the strike and bring up his half-century, following which he fell for a 37-ball 50 in the 15th over.
