IPL 2018, MI vs RCB: 5 reasons why Royal Challengers Bangalore lost to Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians finally got off the mark with a win over RCB

Today’s match was a clash between the heavyweights as the Royal Challengers Bangalore took on the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede stadium.

Both teams have struggled in this campaign and were desperate for a win. Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bowl. RCB had a dream start as Umesh Yadav removed both Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan off the first two balls of Mumbai’s innings.

However, it went all downhill for RCB from thereon as Rohit Sharma and Evin Lewis thrashed the RCB attack to all parts of the ground.

RCB’s bowlers could not recover from the onslaught and ended up conceding a massive 213 runs, the highest total in this year’s IPL.

In reply, RCB lost the South African duo of Quinton De Kock and AB De Villiers in the fifth over and never really threatened to chase the target down.

Kohli played an excellent knock of 92 runs but it was not enough on the day as RCB lost the match by a huge margin of 46 runs.

Let us have a look at the five reasons why the Kohli led side lost the contest.

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#1 The Hitman wakes up

Sharma finally delivered a big knock this season

Rohit Sharma has been struggling for runs ever since the South African tour. His slow innings against Delhi sucked the momentum out of Mumbai’s innings in the previous game.

But the “Hitman” decided to wake up today. Coming in to bat in a precarious situation, Sharma began with an imperious cover drive for four. In the beginning, he played perfect foil to the big-hitting Lewis.

Once Windies batsman departed, Sharma decided to open up his arms. Lofting sixes at will, the Mumbai captain raced to 94 runs off just 52 balls. His knock included 10 fours and five massive sixes.

He got out on the penultimate ball but by then his knock had virtually sealed the match.

#2 Spin woes

The spin duo of RCB failed today

Bangalore have high hopes from the spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar. Both of them have had a mixed start to this year’s IPL.

Today was another off day for the tweakers. Sundar was trusted in the powerplay by Kohli but he struggled with his line and went for a whopping 19 runs of his first over.

Chahal too was smashed around by Lewis who hit him for two consecutive sixes. The duo went for a massive 64 runs of their combined five overs.

On a pitch where Krunal Pandya impressed with his part-time spin, poor performance from RCB’s spinners left their fans dejected.

#3 Poor death bowling

The RCB bowlers conceded 70 runs in the last five overs

Mumbai had a strong start against Delhi as well but did not finish well in the last few overs. RCB were hoping for more of the same but their bowlers let them down.

After coming under the pump from Lewis and Sharma in the beginning, RCB’s bowlers lost their nerves in the last five overs.

Mumbai amassed 70 runs off their last five overs, thanks largely to some poor bowling from RCB.

Woakes was too short with his length in the penultimate over and was duly dispatched for a couple of sixes by Hardik Pandya.

Things went from bad to worse, as Corey Anderson bowled some gentle full tosses in the last over and conceded 20 runs. It propelled Mumbai’s innings from a competitive score to a match-winning score.

#4 McClenaghan's double-wicket over

McClenaghan dismissed the South African duo of De Kock and De Villiers in the same over

Chasing a huge total of 214, RCB needed a strong start. Things looked good early on as De-Kock and Virat smashed 40 off their first four overs.

Rohit gave the ball to Mitchell McClenaghan and the Kiwi delivered a match-winning over. On the first ball of the over, De Kock came charging down the track but the ball crept under his bat and smashed into his off stump.

McClenaghan wasn’t done there. On the fourth ball of his over, he removed the big fish De Villiers.

ABD looked to hoic a short ball over the boundary but could not get the required distance on it and spooned an easy catch to Hardik Pandya at mid-wicket. These two big blows made a big dent in RCB’s reply.

#5 Failure to counter spin

Mumbai's spin duo picked up four wickets between them

Mumbai have one of the best fast bowling attacks in the tournament, in the form of Jasprit Bumrah and Mustafizur Rahman.

It was clear from the start that if RCB had to chase the total down, they would have to smash Mumbai’s spinners out of the park.

However, the opposite occurred. Krunal Pandya troubled Bangalore with his part-time spin. He bowled some tight overs in the middle and also picked up the wickets of Mandeep Singh, Anderson, and Sundar in the process.

Krunal was ably supported by the young leggie Markande, who went for just 25 runs off his four overs.

The spin duo conceded 53 runs off their eight overs and picked up four wickets between them.