Pune, (Asian independent) A sublime 66 off 47 balls by wicketkeeper-batter Anuj Rawat combined with a superb show by bowlers set up Royal Challengers Bangalores third win of IPL 2022 with a seven-wicket vicotry over Mumbai Indians at MCA Stadium here on Saturday.
After Harshal Patel, Wanindu Hasaranga and Akash Deep ensured that Mumbai could manage only 151/6 after being asked to bat, Rawat played a fine innings for his maiden IPL fifty with Virat Kohli making 48 off 36 balls as Bangalore registered a comfortable win with seven balls to spare in their chase of 152.
It also meant that Mumbai’s wait for a win continued as they crashed to their fourth loss on the bounce in this tournament despite a sparking, unbeaten 68 by Suryakumar Yadav rescuing them from 79/6 to a respectable 151/6, which wasn’t sufficient to end a winless streak.
Bangalore had a sedate power-play, with 30 runs coming in for no loss. Rawat launching back-to-back sixes on both sides of the ‘v’ off Jaydev Unadkat were the only source of boundaries in that phase. Mumbai tried hard for wickets, which included bringing in two overs of Jasprit Bumrah. But they couldn’t take out either Rawat or a circumspect Faf du Plessis.
Rawat went on to slog-sweep a full toss from Murugan Ashwin over square leg, followed by du Plessis driving through long-off as 15 runs came off the seventh over. Mumbai finally struck in the ninth over when du Plessis holed out to long-on off Unadkat.
Rawat and Kohli took a boundary each off Ashwin in the 11th over. In the next over, the latter flicked Basil Thampi through mid-wicket and the former produced a beautiful whipped six over square leg and a cracking cut through backward point to take 15 runs off the over.
Rawat brought up his fifty in 38 balls while Kohli pulled Bumrah between long-on and deep mid-wicket. He earned a reprieve at 30 when Dewald Brewis dropped his catch at deep backward square leg and allowed the ball to go through his legs for a boundary.
Rawat slammed sixes off Pollard and Unadkat over deep backward square leg and mid-wicket before his knock ended at 66 via a direct hit from Ramandeep Singh at mid-on. Kohli fell lbw to Brevis while trying to defend.
Dinesh Karthik slammed a pull over mid-wicket off Bumrah while Glenn Maxwell applied the finishing touches with back-to-back fours through backward point and cover off Brevis to hand Bangalore their third win.
Earlier, asked to bat first, Mumbai were off to a fine start with Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan cruising through power-play to be 49/0. But just two balls after the power-play ended, Sharma tried to flick a slower delivery from Harshal Patel and leading edge flew back to the bowler.
It started a slide for Mumbai as Brewis went on backfoot to counter a googly from Hasaranga. But the ball turned in to trap him plumb lbw. Kishan tried to ramp a short ball from Deep and was caught at deep third man running to his right.
Tilak Varma ran straightaway after tapping ball through off-side. But Maxwell fired a sharp under-arm throw, diving from short cover to catch the left-hander short of his crease. Hasaranga got his second wicket when he slipped in a googly sharply turning in to trap Kieron Pollard plumb lbw for a golden duck.
Suryakumar found boundaries with drive on the up and cut through point even though Ramandeep Singh fell without making an impact. He showed his range of shots, lofting inside-out for a six over extra-cover off Shahbaz Ahmed, followed by a paddle sweep through short fine leg for four. He took a four off Siraj with a whip through mid-wicket and slow-swept Hasaranga for a six over deep mid-wicket.
After surviving an lbw appeal off Patel, Yadav and Jayden Unadkat took a boundary each as 13 runs came off the 18th over. Siraj came under more thrashing from Yadav as the right-hander slammed sixes over extra cover, deep square leg and third man to take 23 runs off 19th over. Yadav finished off the innings with a six clubbed over long-on to take Mumbai past 150.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 151/6 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 68 not out, Rohit Sharma 26; Harshal Patel 2/23, Wanindu Hasaranga 2/28) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 152/3 in 18.3 overs (Anuj Rawat 66; Virat Kohli 48; Dewald Brevis 1/8, Jaydev Unadkat 1/30) by seven wickets
