Navdeep Saini, repaying his captain’s trust, was brilliant in the super over as he conceded just 7 against the likes of Keiron Pollard, Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma.
This was total even Jasprit Bumrah could not defend as he lost a super over for Mumbai Indians (MI) for the first time. He took it to the last ball against Ab de Villiers and Virat Kohli, who took RCB over the line.
For the first 36 overs of the game, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had done everything right. It was their game to lose, and they almost managed to do it.
At the end of 16th overs, MI were reeling at 122-4, with 80 needed of the last four. Ishan Kishan’s form, (batting at 70 of 48) and Keiron Pollard’s (batting at 11 of 10) reputation were what MI’s hopes rested on.
4,6,6,2,6,3 read Adam Zampa’s next over as the Pollard hit middled the call more often than not. The big man had arrived for MI, and he had arrived in style. Chahal’s next over was taken for another 22 runs, the deficit now reduced to 31 of 12. Pollard had hit his last IPL fifty back in 2018 for MI, and just when his team needed him, he hit a 20-ball 50.
Navdeep Saini gave away 12 in the penultimate over. All eyes were on the MI batsmen with 19 needed of the last. Isuru Udana, the new addition to the squad, had the ball. He gave away 14 in the first 4, leaving just 5. It was MI’s game now. Ishan Kishan failed to clear the fence as he fell for 99 of 58. The big man was on strike and he hit the last bowl for a boundary, taking it to the super-over.
Pollard ended with a 60 not-out of just 24 deliveries.
After being put into bat first, RCB’s openers in Aaron Finch (52 of 35) and Devdutt Padikkal (54 of 40) gave them a brilliant start as they put together a stand of 81 runs. Ab de Villiers (55 of 24) then took the charge against MI bowlers as he cleared the fence at will. With a breezy cameo by Shivam Dube (27* of 10), RCB ended with a mammoth total of 201-3.
Trent Boult (2 for 34) was the pick of the Mumbai bowlers.
Virat Kohli, for the first time this season, handed the new ball to Washington Sundar. And the youngster showed his prowess as he got Rohit Sharma in just the second over of the innings. In the three overs that he bowled in the powerplay, he just gave away 7 runs. He ended with figures of 1 for 12 in his 4, not conceding a single boundary.
RCB’s spinners, Yuzvendra Chahal (1 for 48) and Adam Zampa (1 for 53) just gave away 38 runs in the first 5 overs they bowled. In the next 3 however, they were taken for as many as 63 runs.
Mumbai arrived in the match only after the end of the 16th over of the second innings, and they almost spoiled what RCB had done up until that point.
Brief Scores:
RCB: 201-3 (De Villiers 55, Padikkal 54, Finch 52, Boult 2/34)
MI: 201-5 (Kishan 99, Pollard 60, Udana 2/45, Sundar 1/12)
