What drama, what action. What a match!
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Mumbai Indians (MI) played out the second Super Over-thriller of Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 and it was Virat Kohli and Co. who emerged triumphant to win the game at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium yesterday.
RCB, who made two changes to their playing XI, bringing in Adam Zampa and Isuru Udana, made a solid start after being put in to bat.
While he was hit into the box on the fourth delivery he faced and there were a few hits and misses, Aaron Finch made his intent clear. The right-hander creamed a Trent Boult delivery for a six in the third over before hitting four fours across the next two overs.
In the final over of the powerplay, RCB moved past 50, with Finch batting on 40 and Devdutt Padikkal batting on 14.
The Australian limited-overs skipper brought up his 50 in the eighth over, powerfully sweeping a Rahul Chahar delivery for four.
But, a slower ball from Boult did the trick as MI managed to get their first breakthrough, dismissing Finch for 52 in the ninth over.
MI kept the things tight over the next couple of overs and it helped them scalp the big wicket of Virat Kohli in the 13th over. Chahar got the RCB skipper out with Kohli’s counterpart Rohit Sharma holding on to an easy catch.
RCB needed to break the shackles that MI applied over the last few overs and Devdutt Padikkal answered that call, clobbering two sixes off James Pattinson in the 14th over as RCB moved to 110.
Devdutt Padikkal, who completed his second 50 in the last three games, and AB de Villiers hit two fours, each across the next two overs before ABD went after Jasprit Bumrah for two sixes and a four in the 17th over to take RCB past 150.
The 62-run stand, though, was broken on the first ball of the 18th over as Boult dismissed the left-hander for 54.
However, ABD continued to take on Bumrah as the Indian pacer’s final over and the innings penultimate over went for 17 runs, with ABD hitting a four and a six to go past 50 and Shivam Dube hitting a four to push his side past 180.
Dube, then creamed three sixes in the final over off Pattinson as RCB posted 201/3 on the board.
Needing 202 runs to win, MI required a strong opening start, but it was not to be as Washington Sundar struck in the second over to get the big scalp of Sharma. RCB debutant Isuru Udana, then dismissed Suryakumar Yadav.
RCB continued to apply pressure in the powerplay, with Washington Sundar keeping things extremely tight. The right-arm off-spinner conceded only seven runs from his three overs.
RCB introduced Yuzvendra Chahal into the attack in the seventh over and the leg-spinner got Quinton de Kock out in his first over. Hardik Pandya and Ishan Kishan then added 39 runs together, but Zampa broke the stand, dismissing Hardik in the 12th over.
Kishan, who was playing his first game of the season, then, went on to bring up his 50. By the time 16 overs were over, MI were 122/4, needing 80 off the last four overs.
Kieron Pollard, then, turned it on and how. He went after Zampa in the 17th over, hitting him for 27 runs with the help of three sixes and a four.
Three overs to go and MI now needed 53 runs to win and Pollard, who marched past 50 in 20 balls, slammed two sixes while Kishan tonked one as Chahal’s final over of the night went for 22 runs, reducing MI’s target to 31 off 12 balls.
While Navdeep Saini kept his composure, conceding just five runs on the first four deliveries, Kishan hit a six off the fifth ball before scoring a single on the final ball of the 19th over.
MI needed 19 off the final over with Isuru Udana bowling that over. The first two balls went for two runs, but Kishan hit a six on the third ball as Gurkeerat Singh Mann dropped catch at long-off. The MI left-hander then hammered one more on the next ball to move to 99. With MI needing five from the last two balls and Kishan needing one run for his ton, he went for another big hit, only to be caught at deep mid-wicket.
MI required five runs to seal a win on the final ball and Pollard sent one past the boundary rope for a four to tie the scores and push the game into the Super Over.
MI batted first in the Super Over, with Pollard and Hardik being the first two batsmen. Saini, though, did remarkably well to limit the opposition to seven runs, picking up a wicket of Kieron Pollard.
RCB needed eight runs to win the Super Over and out came ABD and skipper Kohli as MI picked Bumrah to bowl the over.
There was no shortage of drama. After Bumrah conceded just two off the first two balls, ABD took a review to overturn the decision on the third ball. RCB needed 6 off the last three deliveries and ABD did well to hit a four off Bumrah’s bouncer to bring down the target to two off two. Although the match went to the final ball, Kohli hit a four to take RCB home.
Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 201/3 (AB de Villiers 55*, Devdutt Padikkal 54; Trent Boult 2/34) tied Mumbai Indians 201/5 (Ishan Kishan 99, Kieron Pollard 60*; Isuru Udana 2/45)
Super Over:
Royal Challengers Bangalore 11/0 beat Mumbai Indians 7/1( IPL Website).
