BENGALURU, India, CMC – Pressure mounted on out-of-form West Indies Twenty20 star Kieron Pollard with his latest failure, as Mumbai Indians crashed to a 14-run defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League here yesterday.
Chasing 168 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Mumbai were restricted to 153 for seven from their 20 overs, to register their sixth defeat of the season and remain one from bottom of the eight-team standings on four points.
While the result was hardly surprising considering the visitors’ form, it was Pollard’s continued failure which again raised eyebrows.
The 30-year-old made a run-a-ball 13 with a single four before becoming the fourth victim of the innings when he edged an attempted late cut off seamer Mohammed Siraj and was caught at the wicket in the eighth over with the score on 47. Pollard, expected to be a principal source of runs for Mumbai, now has a mere 76 runs from six innings.
He was dropped for the first time in over two years for Mumbai’s last match against Chennai Super Kings but the time away failed to make a difference.
It was left to Hardik Pandya with exactly 50 from 42 balls to lead his side’s batting with JP Duminy and Krunal Pandya both scoring 23.
Earlier, opener Manan Vohra top-scored with 45, Brendon McCullum chipped in with 37 while captain Virat Kohli got 32, as RCB racked up 167 for seven after they were sent in. Medium pacer Hardik Pandya claimed three for 28 from his three overs to spearhead Mumbai’s attack.
