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The 14th edition of the IPL is all set to commence today with a cracking opening contest between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Both star-studded teams have multiple match-winners in the batting department and it could be a long night for the bowlers.
Premiere players like Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya are set to feature in this exciting clash.
Rohit Sharma versus Chahal, Virat Kohli versus Trent Boult, AB de Villiers versus Jasprit Bumrah, and Kieron Pollard versus Kylie Jamieson are the individual duels that could dictate the result of the match.
Looking back at some great performances with the ball, here are the top 3 bowling performances from RCB vs MI clashes in the IPL so far.
#3 Lasith Malinga (MI) - 4/31 vs RCB
In match number 31 of the 2019 IPL at the Wankhede Stadium, RCB were in a tricky situation. They had already lost six matches and needed to win their encounter against MI to keep their playoff hopes alive.
After being asked to bat first, RCB's hopes of posting a high score vanished early as skipper Virat Kohli departed in the third over after scoring just eight runs.
The onus was on talismanic batsman AB de Villiers to save the day and he did not disappoint. The South African star batted through the innings, and his 75-run knock helped RCB set a decent target of 172. Moeen Ali played an enterprising knock 50 (32) to support the former Proteas skipper.
At one stage, RCB were cruising along, and a high score was within their sights. Both ABD and Ali had registered fifties and were ready to fire on all cylinders in the death overs.
Enter Lasith Malinga. The veteran pacer upheld the trust of his skipper and derailed RCB's momentum. He castled the crucial wickets of Moeen Ali and Marcus Stoinis in the 18th over and then came back to pick up another two scalps in the 20th over to restrict RCB to a modest 171/7.
The Mumbai Indians galloped towards and chased the score down comfortably in 19 overs.
#2 Dilhara Fernando (MI) - 4/18 vs RCB
Fernando achieved this feat in the 55th match of the inaugural season. Neither RCB nor MI were in contention for knock-out games at this stage and it was an inconsequential game. Sachin Tendulkar won the toss and invited RCB to bat first at the Chinnaswamy stadium.
RCB's innings never took off as MI's pace trio of Shaun Pollock, Ashish Nehra and Dilhara Fernando made excellent use of the damp conditions and strangled the RCB batters.
Fernando had a field day by snagging the top 3 batsmen. In the 6th over, he dismissed international stars Mark Boucher and Misbah-ul-Haq. He later picked up the wickets of opener Shreevats Goswami and Vinay Kumar to finish with figures of 4/18. West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Smith also ended with figures of 3/26 which meant RCB could only manage 126/9 in 20 overs.
Mumbai Indians chased down the target in just 16 overs courtesy of a dominant 96-run opening partnership between Sanath Jayasuriya (54) and Sachin Tendulkar (40*). Dilhara Fernando was the player of the match due to his magnificent efforts with the ball.
#1 Samuel Badree (RCB) - 4/9 vs MI
Former West Indies leg spinner Samuel Badree has the second-best figures for any bowler against the Mumbai Indians.
Intriguingly, it is current MI skipper Rohit Sharma (4/6) who has the best bowling figures against the franchise. He achieved this feat in 2009 while representing the Deccan Chargers franchise.
Samuel Badree spun a web around MI in match number 12 of IPL 2017, putting RCB in a commanding position. On a sedate Bangalore pitch, RCB had earlier set a target of 143 runs courtesy of a 62-run knock from skipper Virat Kohli.
Badree wreaked havoc in the powerplay and picked up a hat-trick in the third over to crush the backbone of MI's batting line-up. Parthiv Patel, Rohit Sharma, and Mitchell McClenaghan were his victims.
In the 8th over, Badree struck again by scalping Nitish Rana, leaving Mumbai Indians struggling at 33/5. Kieron Pollard rose to the challenge yet again and single-handedly took his team to the brink of victory. Pollard (70 of 47 balls) stitched a match-winning 93-run partnership with Krunal Pandya to win the game for his side.
Even though Pollard departed in the end, the senior Pandya brother remained unbeaten on 37* to finish the chase without any hiccups.
Kieron Pollard trumped his fellow West Indies teammate Badree and bagged player of the match award for his match-winning efforts with the bat.
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