RCB v MI, IPL 2017: Stunning Badree spell in vain as Mumbai Indians down Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore
HIGHLIGHTS
- Mumbai Indians beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 4 wickets
- Samuel Badree clinched the 1st hat-trick of IPL 2017
- Tye finished with impressive figures of five for 17
BENGALURU: With 142 runs to defend against a team which bats deep, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli wore a solemn look as he had a chat with the team.
The pep talk may have been inspiring. Three overs into Mumbai Indians innings, hat-trick hero Samuel Badree (4-1-9-4) had flattened the Mumbai batting order with an awe-inspiring maiden third over which saw Parthiv Patel, Rohit Sharma and Mitchell McClenaghan return in quick time to leave Mumbai reeling at 7-4.
But the leg-spinner's mate from Trinidad Kieron Pollard had other designs as he shrugged his rusty form to take Mumbai, who won the toss, to a four-wicket win in an exciting Good Friday contest at the M Chinnaswamy stadium.
With their 57-ball 93-run sixth-wicket partnership, Pollard (70, 47b, 3x4, 5x6) and young Krunal Pandya (37 n.o, 30b, 3x4, 1x6) sealed victory for Mumbai with seven balls to spare.
On a dry pitch which offered variable bounce, 29-year-old Pollard played to his strengths and scored most of his runs hitting down the ground. Walking in with the team precariously placed after the fall of their fourth wicket, Pollard was cautious with his approach as he nudged and poked Badree and pacer Sreenath Arvind for the odd singles.
With just five runs coming off the first 12 deliveries he faced, Pollard opened up by launching Yuzvendra Chahal for a maximum over the sightscreen. He then picked his balls and bowlers, spinners in particular, to showcase the brutal power which comes with his huge 6-ft 4 frame. Pawan Negi was at the receiving end in the 16th over which cost RCB 18 crucial runs.
Earlier, RCB's batting show -barring the heroics of Kohli -was like watching a teaser of a much-hyped star-studded movie which in the end turned out to be average. While the crux of the team total was Kohli's 47-ball 62 (5x4, 2x6), there could have been more runs on the board if he had an opening partner with a good pair of legs. Getting back to competition after a month-long injury lay-off, Kohli played his part to near-perfection and brought up his half-century and the team's 100 by belting a full toss from Jasprit Bumrah over long-off.
While the start was slow, their batting in the death overs was uninspiring. The powerplay yielded 41 runs and following the dismissal of Kohli - who chopped a McClenaghan delivery to deep extra cover and was snapped up by Jos Buttler in the 16th over -the runs dried up with the last four overs yielding 27 runs.
In the process, the home side also lost three wickets with AB de Villiers' (19, 21b, 1x6) being the most coveted. The South African superstar, who was dropped by Buttler on seven, played a Krunal Pandya delivery late towards covers and Rohit Sharma moved in to take a low one-hand blinder.
Opener Gayle (22, 27b, 2x4, 1x6) continued with his insipid performance with the bat, struggling to connect the ball and looked quite at sea against the spinners before he edged Hardik Pandya to wicketkeeper Parthiv.
RCB made four changes, bringing in Kohli, Gayle, Badree and Arvind in place of Shane Watson, Billy Stanlake, Iqbal Abdullah and Vishnu Vinod. Tim Southee took Lasith Malinga's place in the Mumbai line-up.
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