Mumbai Indians (MI) eased to a 6-wicket win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Wednesday. After this match, we have seen 13 matches won by the team batting second from 14 matches in the 2016 Indian Premier League (IPL) so far.
Put into bat first, the Bangalore-based franchise put on 170/7 from their allotted 20 overs. A number of batsmen got a start, but no one could get a big score which hurt them big time in the end.
Despite losing Parthiv Patel early, Mumbai looked to be in complete control for most parts of the chase. Captain Rohit Sharma was the star of the innings as he scored a calculated 62 from just 44 balls.
Some late pyrotechnics from Jos Buttler and Kieron Pollard made sure that the match ended as early as the 18th over, with the big West Indian staying unbeaten on 40 with 3 sixes to his name.
What Rohit Sharma had to say
Sharma, who was also named the Man of the Match, praised his bowlers for restricting a powerful RCB line-up to just 170 on what seemed like a flat pitch. Krunal Pandya who took the wickets of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in the same over, came in for a lot of praise from the MI skipper.
“I think this is the kind of game we wanted to play. The bowlers did an excellent job to restrict a team like that to 170. There wasn't much there. Especially the spinners - Krunal Pandya, getting those wickets, and even Harbhajan Singh. The things we discussed in our meetings, we executed it really well.” Sharma said.
“If you look at last year's performance, there was hardly any batsmen in the top five, which shows it was a team effort. The way Buttler and Pollard played today, they are match-winners for their respective countries, we know exactly what they can do and credit goes to Rayudu as well, he batted brilliantly in the middle.”
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