Mumbai Indians registered a comfortable five-wicket victory over the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first match of the double-header at the Wankhede Stadium. The skipper of Royal Challengers Bangalore, Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first in order to give his struggling batting unit first use of the hard surface on offer.
The star-studded batting unit of the Royal Challengers Bangalore has failed to live up to expectations in the tournament and their top order woes continued as they lost half their side with just 108 runs on the board. The Challengers were bailed out by a crucial sixth-wicket partnership of 54 runs between Kedar Jadhav and Pawan Negi. The late surge by the duo ensured that the Bangalore outfit reach a respectable 162 runs in the first innings.
In reply, the Mumbai Indians chased down the target in the last over of the innings, courtesy a master class from their captain, Rohit Sharma. The stylish right-hander guided his team in the crucial run chase by scoring a match winning 56 off 37 deliveries.
Take a look at five mistakes committed by Kohli and his men in this contest:
#1 Persisting with Travis Head over Gayle
Chris Gayle is regarded as the most destructive batsman in the shortest format of the game. The charismatic left-hander has proved his worth time and again not only for the Royal Challengers Bangalore but also for West Indies at the international level. The 37-year-old has been one of the mainstays in the batting unit for the Bangalore-based franchise and his contributions at the top of the order in the last edition of the tournament were vital in helping his side reach the finals.
A nightmare for any bowling unit, Gayle has the ability to single-handedly take the game away from the opposition with his sheer power and big hitting skills. Although Gayle has been short of runs in this competition, he would have been more than useful on the batting paradise on offer at the Wankhede Stadium.
The management has continued to keep faith with Travis Head ahead of Gayle as one of their foreign players which has not yielded any result so far in the tournament. The Australian is enduring a poor run in this competition and has just managed to score 74 runs in his five matches.
The southpaw has failed to acclimatise to the slow nature of the wickets on offer in the tournament and his dismal run at the top of the order has been a concern for the Challengers. He failed to get going in today’s encounter and was eventually dismissed for 12 off 15 deliveries.
It was a strange decision by the management of the Challengers to persist with Head over the experienced Gayle and this was one of the crucial reasons for their downfall in this encounter.
#2 Lack of partnerships in the middle overs
The formidable batting unit of the Royal Challengers Bangalore continued to struggle in the tenth edition of the tournament as they lost half their side within 14 overs of play. The Challengers failed to build a strong platform in the middle overs as they lost wickets at regular intervals.
The three crucial wickets in the middle overs dented the scoring rate and eventually resulted in them posting a below-par score.
They lost the wicket of Travis Head on the third ball of the 11th over, with the score reading 85 runs, to poor shot selection. It was followed up by the wicket of AB de Villiers in the 13th over as the South African tried to slog sweep Krunal Pandya only managing to top edge it for a simple catch to Bumrah at short fine leg. In the very next over, Shane Watson was cleaned up by Jasprit Bumrah to reduce the visitors to 108 for 5.
The batsmen failed to apply themselves and lack of partnerships in the middle overs prevented the visitors from posting a huge first innings total.
#3 Shane Watson’s failure
Shane Watson has struggled to get going in the tournament and his consistent failures have been the main reasons for the poor run of the Bangalore outfit. The Australian was handed over the responsibility of leading the side in the absence of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers early on in the tournament but failed to create any impact.
A player of his calibre adds a lot of stability in the playing XI of the side due to his ability with both bat and ball but his poor run has surely not helped the Bangalore unit.
Coming back into the side for this all important encounter, Watson’s dismal run with the bat continued as he was cleaned up by Jasprit Bumrah for 3 runs, trying to slog across the line.
The veteran failed to have any impact with the ball as he was smashed for 28 runs in his 3.5 overs. The management needed the experience of the Australian to bail them out of a tricky situation but his failure to deliver contributed to their defeat.
#4 Lack of sting in the bowling department
The bowling department has been a weak link for the Royal Challengers Bangalore ever since the inception of the Indian Premier League in 2008. The bowling unit has failed to provide crucial breakthroughs early on in the innings which has helped oppositions post huge totals. Barring Mitchell Starc in the last edition of the tournament, all the other bowlers have failed to have an impact or pose any sort of threat whatsoever.
In tonight’s game, the only bowler who looked like picking up a wicket was the leg-spinner, Yuzuvendra Chahal. The youngster has been the trump card for Virat Kohli throughout the competition and has picked up crucial wickets to give his side an early advantage and he bowled his heart out in an attempt to keep the pressure on Mumbai.
However, a lack of bowling partnerships did not aid his cause and the runs kept flowing from the other end.
#5 Not unleashing the leg-spinner against Rohit Sharma early in his innings
Rohit Sharma announced himself in the tenth edition of the tournament as he scored an unbeaten 56 to guide his team in the tense run chase. The skipper led from the front and stayed calm under pressure to produce his best innings in this year’s competition.
The 30-year-old has struggled against leg spinners in this season but was benefited from the fact that Virat Kohli did not unleash his trump card, Yuzuvendra Chahal as soon as he walked in to bat.
The right-hander has been short of runs in the tournament and came into bat after the fall of Jos Buttler’s wicket on the third ball of the eighth over. The Bangalore skipper, Kohli, failed to capitalise on the situation and did not use Chahal until the 13th over. He was happy to let Watson and Pawan Negi bowl in tandem in the middle overs.
This move seemed to work wonders for Rohit as he used this as an opportunity to settle down and score a match-winning half century.
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