In a match of two third-wicket partnerships, the 140-run stand between Surykumar Yadav and Nehal Wadhera prevailed over the 120-run effort by Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell as Mumbai Indians defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets in Match No 54 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.
Yadav put on display a power-hitting masterclass to post his highest score in IPL -- a 35-ball 83 -- and with Nehal Wadhera blasting an unbeaten half-century, Mumbai Indians handed Royal Challengers Bangalore a six-wicket defeat in Match No 54 of India Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Tuesday.
Suryakumar started on a sedate note after Ishan Kishan had given Mumbai Indians a whirlwind start with a 21-ball 42, and raced to his half-century in 26 balls. He raised 140 runs for the third wicket partnership with Wadhera (52 not out off 34 balls) in just 66 deliveries as Mumbai raced to 200/4 in 16.3 overs, chasing Royal Challengers Bangalore's 199/6 in 20 overs built around blazing half-centuries by Faf du Plessis (65) and Glenn Maxwell (68).
Thanks to Suryakumar Yadav's 83 and an unbeaten 52 by Wadhera, Mumbai twice survived double-strike overs by Wanindu Hasaranga and Vijaykumar Vyshak to race to their sixth win of the season and zoomed to the third spot in the points table with 12 points, behind Gujarat Titans (16) and Chennai Super Kings (13) and in a superb position to seal a place in the Playoffs if they win their next three matches.
RCB Put Into Bat First
Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma had won the toss and elected to field first and left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff justified his decision by getting Virat Kohli to nick one behind to Ishan Kishan on the fifth ball of his first over. Kohli tried to give the Aussie pacer the charge to heave it into the stands but only managed a thick edge behind for 1-- DRS giving the former India captain out.
From 2/1, Royal Challengers Bangalore slumped into further trouble when Anuj Rawat, who slapped Behrendorff for a boundary over cover, attempted to scoop a wide one but top-edged it and Cameron Green pouched the skier, running behind from slips. RCB were down to 16/2 and looking in trouble.
However, skipper Faf du Plessis and the experienced Glenn Maxwell rescued Royal Challengers Bangalore with both hitting superb fifties in the process.
Maxwell was the more aggressive of the two, completing his half-century in 25 balls, hitting three sixes and six boundaries in the process. He struck Behrendorff for two boundaries in the fifth over, belting one down the ground and playing the second to the fine-leg boundary.
In the next over, he first reverse-swept and then punched Piyush Chawla for back-to-back boundaries. Maxwell continued his tirade against the Mumbai Indians bowlers, smacking Chris Jordan, who made his Mumbai Indians debut coming in as a replacement for Jofra Archer, for two sixes in the seventh over, hoisting him square-leg and then pulling the English bowler over the boundary in front of square.
He then walked down the pitch to deposit a Chawla delivery into the second tier over long-on. A boundary off a full-toss by Akash Madhwal and a single took him to fifty off 25 balls.
The pick of his shots on Tuesday was a reverse ramp off Jordan for a six. He again used the reverse shot to dispatch a fastish leg-break from Chawla for four.
At the other end, Du Plessis played a well-controlled innings as he struck Chawla for successive fours in the second over and despatched Green for two boundaries in the fourth over, picking up the length with ease. In the fifth over, he thumped Behrendorff for a big six over long-on and meted out the same treatment to Madhwal off a full-toss in the 10th over as RCB crossed the 100-run mark.
He struck a six off Chawla and hit Jordan for a boundary, completing his fifty off 30 deliveries. The 100 off their partnership for the third wicket came off just 52 balls as RCB went on the rampage.
Behrendorff provided Mumbai Indians the much-needed breakthrough when he sent back Maxwell for 68, as he slogged a knuckleball and Nehal Wadhera pouched a straight-forward catch, falling backward. The third-wicket partnership fetched RCB 120 runs in quick fashion.
But their hopes of posting a bit total did not materialise as from 136/3 in the 13th over, RCB slumped to 146/5 in the 15th over, losing Mahipal Lomror (1) and Faf du Plessis (65) in quick fashion. The RCB skipper attempted to ramp Green only to find substitute fielder Vishnu Vinod at short fine leg, who juggled it twice before catching it on the third attempt.
Dinesh Karthik played a cameo 30 off 17 balls, smacking Kumar Kartikeya for three boundaries, two off successive deliveries, and hammering a full-toss from the spinner for a six over deep midwicket. But holed out to Nehal Wadhera off Jordan at the most inappropriate time for RCB as they could not go past the 200-run mark, managing 47/1 in the last five overs.
Mumbai's Chase
Mumbai Indians started the chase in whirlwind fashion thanks to Ishan Kishan who blasted a 21-ball 42 to give them a dream start. As his skipper Rohit Sharma, who returned to his opening slot after batting down the order against CSK, and watched from the other end, Ishan Kishan went hammer and tongs at the Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling, hitting four boundaries and four maximums during his superb knock.
He started the Mumbai Indians' reply with a four off the first delivery when Mohammed Siraj strayed down the legside and whipped through midwicket and lofted to long-on Josh Hazlewood for fours off successive deliveries in the second over. Siraj came under attack in his next over too as Ishan Kishan, who was on Monday included in the India Test squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final, hammered back-to-back sixes over the long-on and deep backward square leg boundary.
A monster hit off Hazlewood into the top tier in deep square-leg area was the pick of the shots in his brief knock and he celebrated it by smashing a four and a six off Sri Lankan spinner Wanindu Hasaranga. But the leg-break bowler had the last laugh as he got Ishan Kishan on the next delivery after the six by cramping the Mumbai Indians batsman for space with a quicker one as thin-edges it to Anuj Rawat.
Hasaranga struck again in the same over, sending back Rohit Sharma for seven, trapping him lbw with a superb delivery, and getting three reds from ball tracking on a fine DRS review by RCB skipper Faf du Plessis.
From 50 for no loss, Mumbai slumped to 52/2 in the fifth over after Hasaranga's double strike and though Rohit Sharma's side recovered from the slump thanks to a timely partnership between Suryakumar Yadav and Nehal Wadhera.
They shared a 100-run partnership in 53 deliveries as they put the Mumbai innings back on track. Wadhera, who was dropped by Hasaranga off his own bowling, pulled Vijaykumar Vyshak for a six off the second delivery he faced before French cutting and driving Harshal Patel for two fours. He slog-swept Hasaranga for his second six in the 11th over.
Suryakumar Yadav, on the other hand, had to dive to survive a run-out attempt in the sixth over before Virat Kohli came up with a poor effort, off Harshal Patel, at the deep midwicket giving him his first four. The Mumbai batter guided Vyshak to the boundary in the eighth over and then survived a DRS review for ball tracking confirming the impact is outside off. He exploded into action in the 12th over by hammering Hazlewood for back-to-back fours and then struck Harshal Patel for another four through the gap behind point.
Suryakumar treated Siraj on his return for his second spell with a four and six off successive deliveries and the slog-swept Hasaranga into the crowd at deep backward square leg and followed it up by launching the Sri Lankan spinner over deep square leg boundary for another big six.
He raced to his half-century off 26 balls and welcomed Vyshak's return to the attack with a six off a no-ball, followed it up with a four off the free hit, and planted a full-toss into the second tier over deep backward square. However, the bowler had the last laugh as he got Suryakumar Yadav caught by Kedar Jadhav with a slower one that the batter swung to legside. Yadav got out for a brilliant 83 off 35 deliveries, his highest score in IPL so far, which put Mumbai on course to victory.
Though Vyshak struck another blow on his next delivery, as Tim David chipped straight to long off for a golden duck in the 16h over. But with Mumbai Indians needing only eight runs to win, they managed to cross the line when Wadhera hammered Harshal over the cover boundary to seal victory with six wickets remaining and 21 balls to spare. Wadhera remained unbeaten on 52 off 34 deliveries.
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