Three explosive half-centuries by Royal Challengers Bangalore’s top-order batsmen – Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch and AB de Villiers — propelled their team to pile up a strong total of 201 for the loss of 3 wickets against Mumbai Indians in the Dream11 Indian Premier League match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Monday.
Asked to take first strike by Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma, RCB made their intentions quite clear from the word go. They needed a win badly to stay in contention for a play-off berth after losing miserably against Kings XI Punjab in their previous outing.
Padikkal and Finch set the ball rolling with an aggressive batting display. The left-right combination of Padikkal and Finch frustrated the MI bowlers as they put on 81 for the opening wicket in 9 overs. Finch was the first to depart when he was caught brilliantly at the fence by Keiron Pollard off Trent Boult. The Australian ODI captain slammed 52 off just 35 balls with the help of 7 fours and a six.
Much was expected from Virat Kohli but he disappointed yet again. Kohli was caught by his opposite number Rohit Sharma off Rahul Chahar after scoring just 3 runs off 11 balls. It was the third consecutive failure in as many innings for the RCB captain.
Padikkal, the hero for RCB in the first match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, hammered his second fifty in his third IPL match. The tall southpaw belted 54 off 40 deliveries which included five boundaries and a couple of big sixes.
With plenty of wickets in hand, RCB went all out in the final few overs. In the last five overs, RCB piled up 78 runs for the loss of Kohli.
AB de Villiers blasted an explosive unbeaten 55 off just 24 balls which had four boundaries and an equal number of sixes. The veteran of many a battle, de Villiers displayed his typical acrobatic big-hitting shots to send the ball across the ropes.
Shivam Dube added the much-needed punch towards the end with a blistering undefeated 27 off just 10 balls. The tall left-handed batsman from Mumbai pummelled three huge sixes to take RCB beyond the 200-run mark.
Trent Boult picked up a couple of wickets, while Rahul Chahar took a wicket but other MI bowlers struggled on a batting-friendly pitch.
Brief Scores
Royal Challengers Bangalore 201 for 3 in 20 overs (AB de Villiers 55 not out, Devdutt Padikkal 54, Aaron Finch 52, Shivam Dube 27 not out; Trent Boult 2 for 34, Rahul Chahar 1 for 31) vs Mumbai Indians.
Courtesy: orangecitysports.com
