ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, CMC – West Indies white-ball captain, Kieron Pollard, found himself with precious little to do as his Mumbai Indians all but secured a spot in the playoffs of the Indian Premier Premier League with an uncomplicated five-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore here yesterday.
Chasing 165 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Mumbai skipper Pollard was there at the end to help see the reigning champions over the line with five balls to spare, hitting the only ball he faced for four.
The run chase was, however, guided veteran Suryakumar Yadav who stroked an unbeaten 79 off 43 deliveries to earn Man-of-the-Match honours.
Arriving at number three after South African Quinton de Kock perished for 18 in the sixth over, Suryakumar struck 10 fours and three sixes to control the innings.
Importantly, he put on a critical 51 for the fifth wicket with Hardik Pandya (17) after Mumbai stumbled to 107 for four in the 14th over.
“Our main aim today was to get two points. I thought we really went out and played well to get those two points,” Pollard said after the victory which left Mumbai top of the standings on 16 points from eight wins.
“We have a couple days of thinking, watching the other games and then we’ll be able to think about all these things like net run rate but after the defeat in the last game we wanted to come back stronger.”
With two games left, Mumbai are heavy favourites for a top two finish but net run rate will be key as RCB and Delhi Capitals lie second and third respectively on 14 points.
Sent in earlier, RCB got a top score of 74 from Devdutt Padikkal, the 20-year-old left-hander belting a dozen fours and a six in posting 71 for the first wicket with Australian Josh Philippe who made 33.
Padikkal put on a further 36 for the third wicket with South African AB de Villiers (15) but RCB then declined quickly, losing four wickets for seven runs in the space of 13 deliveries, to slump to 138 for six in the 18th over.
Pollard triggered the collapse in his only over which cost four runs, when de Villiers slogged a full toss into deep square’s lap in the 16th over.
Outstanding new ball seamer Jasprit Bumrah finished with three for 14 from his four overs.