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Bumrah, Yadav lead Mumbai to crushing win over RCB

cricket11 April 2024 18:34| © MWP
By:Patrick Compton
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Jasprit Bumrah © Sportzpics

The Mumbai Indians sent their fans into raptures with a sensational batting display on top of Jasprit Bumrah’s five-wicket haul to hammer the Royal Challengers Bengaluru by seven wickets in their Tata IPL match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.

Purple adjectives and the IPL tend to go together, but Bumrah’s bowling (5-21) and the electrifying batting of Suryakumar Yadav (52 in 19 balls), among others, would certainly empty bars around the world.

Mumbai, who tend to start IPL tournaments slowly before pressing the accelerator later on, are doing the same thing this year.

They now have two wins on the bounce, but this performance, reaching their target of 197 in just 15.3 overs, has greatly improved their net run-rate and, perhaps, sent a shiver of fear down the spines of their opponents.

RCB’s total of 196 for eight seemed a challenging one, but the intensity of Mumbai’s assault was breathtaking.

Ishan Kishan dominated an opening stand of 101 with Rohit Sharma in just 8.5 overs, smashing seven fours and five sixes in his 34-ball 69 before perishing in the deep.

Sharma made a relatively sedate 38 in 24 balls before falling victim to a brilliant diving catch at short fine leg by Reece Topley.

But it was Yadav who was first among equals after returning from an ankle injury.

Many IPL innings reveal impressive stats, with many batters going at more than a 200 strike rate, but Yadav range of shots is truly extraordinary.

One blow that sailed 20 rows into the crowd over square leg was taken from well outside his off-stump and resulted from a perfectly timed flick of the wrists.

When Yadav finally holed out in the deep, his captain Hardik Pandya announced his intentions by smashing the first ball he faced for six over long-on and then crashed a third in the 16th over to finish the match.

All in all, Mumbai’s innings was a display of controlled violence that was remarkable.

RCB’s bowlers struggled with their lines and lengths, partly because of the dew that challenged their grip of the ball, but Mumbai’s batters were remorseless.

BATTERS BAMBOOZLED

Earlier, Bumrah took 5-21 in his four overs after the Mumbai Indians won the toss and put RCB into bat.

He dominated most of the RCB batters, but half-centuries from Faf du Plessis – his first of this year’s competition – Rajat Patidar and a lightning unbeaten 53 from Karthik (5x4s, 4x6s) at the death enabled RCB to post a seemingly challenging 196 for eight in their innings.

Bumrah’s first victim was the heralded Virat Kohli who edged him to wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan for just three.

He then returned to claim the scalp of Du Plessis (61 in 40 balls including 4x4s and 3x6s), superbly caught at long-on by a diving Tim David.

Twice the great fast bowler was on a hat-trick as his lines, variation of pace and lengths bamboozled the batters.

With him out of the attack, however, the RCB batters were able to make hay, with Du Plessis playing through to the 17th over.

He and Rajat Patidar added 82 in 47 balls for the third wicket to set up the innings before Karthik went on the rampage in the closing overs.

Almost single-handedly he took 19 off each of Akash Madhwal’s final two overs with his half-century coming up in the final over.

It was a particularly valuable knock after another failure from Glenn Maxwell, leg before to legspinner Shreyas Gopal for a duck as he failed to pick the googly.

It was not a happy match for Maxwell who not only went for 17 in his only over but dropped two (admittedly tough) chances in the field.

Will Jacks, brought in for his first match, also failed, being caught in the deep for eight, although he did pick up the wicket of Sharma with his off-breaks.

MUMBAI INDIANS: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (capt), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Mohammad Nabi, Gerald Coetzee, Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Gopal, Akash Madhwal

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (capt), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Reece Topley, Mohammed Siraj, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep

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