IPL 2018, MI vs RCB: 3 Things you might have missed

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In a must-win game to gather some momentum, Mumbai Indians were hosting Royal Challengers Bangalore at the historical Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Both the teams were coming on the back of defeats and wanted to turn the tide in their favour as they eye to get the winning momentum going.

After winning an important toss, Kohli asked Rohit and his men to put some runs on the board. It was a dream start for Umesh Yadav as he opened the attack for RCB to take wickets on the first two deliveries. However, Evin Lewis’ blitz and Rohit’s return to form helped MI post a total of 213 runs.

Chasing a gigantic score of 214, RCB got off to a flier but it was always that one wicket that opened the gates for MI. The dismissal of de Kock brought in a flurry of wickets, leaving the skipper stranded at the other end. A knock of 92 runs from Kohli went in vain as RCB succumbed to defeat by 46 runs to hand Mumbai their first win of the league.

Let’s take a look at some of the things that went unnoticed in the game.

#1 RCB opening with different bowlers in the matches so far

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In quest of their maiden IPL title, the start of this year’s IPL wasn’t on the expected lines for the Kohli-led RCB. The plans haven’t worked out as they have tried four different bowlers who have opened the attack for them in the matches so far. If it was Chahal in the opening against KKR, then Woakes and Sundar were the men to do the job in the games to follow against Punjab and Rajasthan respectively.

Kohli’s decision to opt for different bowlers in every new match has failed miserably before today when he asked his most experienced bowler in Umesh Yadav to take this role. The spearhead delivered the goods by dismissing batsmen on the first two successive deliveries to put pressure on the opposition early on in the innings.

#2 Introducing Chahal in as late as in the 9th over

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After the good start courtesy first two ball wickets from Umesh Yadav, MI batsmen came in with onslaught to bring their innings back on track. The presence of the mighty Evin Lewis made it impossible for Virat to bring in his strike bowler in Chahal despite the hammerings from both the sides.

At last, in order to get a breakthrough and stop the onslaught of runs, Kohli had to look towards his experienced leg-spinner. However, it was already too late when Chahal was introduced in the 9th over as enough damage had already been done by the duo of Evin Lewis, who was hitting the ball cleanly and Rohit Sharma, the man returning to the form.

#3 Giving solitary over to Bumrah in powerplay overs

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In a huge run chase, it was always necessary from the opposition’s point of view to get RCB off guard in the few initial overs to put them under pressure. However, Rohit came up with his own plans as he decided to give his best bowler a solitary over in the first six overs.

The move left many awestruck as Sharma removed Bumrah just after giving him the first over to start off the RCB innings. Many times, captains are tempted to stretch the spells for their premier bowlers in the powerplay but MI skipper had the belief in others to contain the scoring rate as he saved Bumrah for his relentless death over bowling.

But RCB never came close to the target, as they struggled in the middle over to hand Krunal Pandya, his one of the best bowling performances in IPL history.

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Edited by Kishan Prasad