Rohit Sharma Scores 62 as Mumbai Indians Beat RCB by Six Wickets

Rohit Sharma scored a stylish half-century as Mumbai Indians romped home against RCB by six wickets.

Rohit Sharma in action against RCB. (Photo: PTI)

Skipper Rohit Sharma laid the foundation with a stylish half-century as Mumbai Indians romped home against Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets in an Indian Premier League encounter at Mumbai on Wednesday.

Chasing a target of 171, Rohit set the pace with yet another attractive knock of 62 off 44 balls. Kieron Pollard finished with a flourish, hammering an unbeaten 40 off 19 balls as the home team notched up their second win in 18 overs. Jos Buttler with 28 off 14 balls also did his bit.

The giant Caribbean hit four boundaries and three sixes.

This was MI’s second win in five matches. RCB have now lost two out of three matches.

Ambati Rayudu. (Photo: BCCI)

Rohit was at his elegant best during the chase as he played an effortless frontfoot pull-shot off Varun Aaron to dispatch him into the stands. His second six was a Nataraja Shot where he whipped one behind backward square leg off medium pacer Harshal Patel.

While Ambati Rayudu played the second fiddle chipping away with singles and occasional boundaries, Rohit seemed to caress the ball to the boundary.

Rayudu got out just when he was getting into the groove with a couple boundaries off Harshal. He tried an ambitious slog sweep off left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah to be caught at deep mid-wicket boundary by Kane Richardson.

Rohit-Rayudu duo added 76 in 9.1 overs for the second wicket. Rayudu’s departure brought Jos Buttler to the crease who scored a 14-ball 28.

Virat Kohli. (Photo: BCCI)

Earlier, Royal Challengers Bangalore were unable to take full advantage of a fine start and were restricted by Mumbai Indians to 170 for 7 after being put into bat.

RCB powered their way to 49 for 1 in the first six overs and 89 for 1 after first 10 overs. But the next 10 yielded only 81 runs at the loss of six wickets.

A double strike in five balls by left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya (2/27) packed off the visiting team’s danger men – captain Virat Kohli (33 in 30 balls) and AB de Villiers (29 in 21 balls). It also applied the brakes in scoring after the duo added 59 runs in 39 balls for the second wicket.

Jasprit Bumrah (3/31) sent back another big hitter Shane Watson cheaply in the 14th over to stall RCB’s hopes of a huge total.

Debutant left-handed batsman Travis Head (37 off 24 balls) tried his best to up the run-rate and made 37 off 24 balls while adding 63 runs off 34 balls with Sarfaraz Khan, who made a quick 28 off 18 balls that helped RCB post a competitive score in the end.