Jasprit Bumrah who produced the most decisive performance on the night to set up Mumbai Indians’ second successive victory at home. Jasprit Bumrah produced a fast-bowling clinic on a featherbed of a batting surface to take 5 for 21 before Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav led a batting onslaught to chase down RCB’s total of 196 in just 15.3 overs.
Jasprit Bumrah with his brilliance just proves that in modern day cricket no one is as lethal as he is currently. The bash-through-the-line Wankhede pitch and dewy conditions contributed to five 50-plus scores, including a 17-ball half-century from Suryakumar Yadav.
Pitch and Toss
It’s a red soil pitch as usual for today’s game at the Wankhede. 65m and 59m square boundaries, the straight boundary is at 74m. So 200 could be a par score considering the dimensions. The pitch itself is an absolute belter, a batting paradise. It’s been a high-scoring ground, both teams could go aggressive against the new ball in the powerplay. Not much spin, just a beautiful batting wicket. It’s a no-brainer, the captain winning the toss would opt to bowl first, reckon Sanjay Manjrekar and Michael Clarke, in their pitch report
MI skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and chose to bowl . The MI team made one changes in the squad replacing Piyush Chawla with Shreyas Gopal.
RCB team under Faf Du Plessis brought in Vijaykumar Vyshak , Will Jacks , Aakash Deep and Mahipal Lomror for Anuj Rawat, Mayank Dagar, Yash Dayal and Cameron Green.
Jasprit Bumrah at the top: 1-5-4-1 as Faf Du Plessis and Rajat Patidar propels RCB.
In his mid-match chat with the broadcasters, Jasprit Bumrah said that he had seen deliveries from Mohammad Nabi’s first over of the match holding up a touch. And so, he resorted to hitting the hard lengths at pace. It took him just three balls to knock over IPL 2024’s leading run-getter. Virat Kohli, having made a scratchy beginning, backed away to the first ball and missed with an attempted swipe across the line.
He wore the second ball, an in ducker, on his pad. Another attempt to swing across the line sent him on his way as the inside edge was snaffled neatly by Kishan. Kohli was back in the hut for 3 (9) in the third over. His dismissal and that of IPL debutant Will Jacks – replacing big-money trade signing Cam Green – meant RCB got to a middling PowerPlay score of 44/2, despite a promising start from du Plessis.
RCB were 23 for 2 in the fourth over when Faf du Plessis and Rajat Patidar came together. Before that, Jasprit Bumrah had Virat Kohli swiping and edging behind for three off nine balls in his first over, the third of the innings. In the next over, Akash Madhwal generated his signature skid to have Will Jacks, who made his IPL debut in place of Cameron Green, flapping a catch to mid-on for eight.
Du Plessis tried to salvage the powerplay by staying leg side of the ball and using his hands to pump the ball over the top. Patidar, too, started quickly and later overtook du Plessis to become the first of many half-centurions in the game. Patidar reached the landmark with back-to-back sixes off Gerald Coetzee, but the South Africa quick hit back the next ball to bounce Patidar out for 50 off 26 balls.
Jasprit Bumrah’s masterclass in the middle overs puts MI firmly into the game.
Hardik Pandya summoned his bowling linchpin Jasprit Bumrah back at the end of the 10th over when RCB had staged a laudable comeback through du Plessis and Patidar. The pair plundered 45 in the four overs after the PowerPlay and the MI captain, who had leaked 13 in his only over, needed to reclaim a semblance of control. And so in came Jasprit Bumrah and sent down a four-run over.
There was no wicket here but the over included a pacy short ball that whizzed past Patidar before the follow-up yorker honing in on the legstump had to be frantically dug out. Control somewhat regained, MI proceeded to dismiss Patidar after his return-to-form 26-ball 50 in the following over before the returning Shreyas Gopal added to RCB’s misery by handing Glenn Maxwell a four-ball duck, extending his dreadful start to the season
Jasprit Bumrah at the death: 2-5-13-4 (1 wd) shut down RCB’s chances of scoring big.
RCB recovered once more and at 149/4 with half-centurion du Plessis and Karthik in the middle, they were primed to cash in on the final four overs. But to entertain any thought of a finishing kick, they had to go through Jasprit Bumrah once more. Du Plessis couldn’t. The RCB captain mistimed a low full-toss to long-on to depart for a 40-ball 61.
Jasprit Bumrah welcomed new batter Mahipal Lomror with a searing yorker with the batter unable to get DRS to his aid. The unexpected slide forced RCB to use their impact substitute in the first innings, but Saurav Chauhan didn’t last long with Jasprit Bumrah offering him a quick short ball which the batter miscued to mid-on.
Vijaykumar Vyshak was the next batter to get a first-ball duck when Jasprit Bumrah served him another short ball and had him chip a simple catch to mid-off. That wicket helped Bumrah join a very select group of bowlers — James Faulkner, Jaydev Unadkat and Bhuvneshwar Kumar the others — to take two IPL five-fers. He finished with a sensational 5 for 21.
After removing Kohli with the new ball, Bumrah returned with the old one to almost shut down RCB’s innings. In a 17th over, which was full of yorkers or low full-tosses, he dismissed du Plessis (61) and Mahipal Lomror (0). Du Plessis failed to get under a hard-to-hit low full-toss and holed out to long-on while Lomror was pinned lbw by a yorker off the next ball.
In his next over, Jasprit Bumrah found himself on a hat-trick again but didn’t get to it this time either. He bounced out Saurav Chauhan, RCB’s impact player, and Vyshak Vijaykumar off successive balls, but Akash Deep somehow kept out the hat-trick ball, which was a yorker. Jasprit Bumrah’s five-wicket haul, though, had his former captain Rohit Sharma lifting him off the ground, and his former bowling partner and current bowling coach, Lasith Malinga, on his feet, applauding him from the dugout.
On Sunday, against Delhi Capitals, Jasprit Bumrah came away with 4-0-22-2 on a day when 439 runs were scored. Thursday’s performance was even more special on a dewy night.
DK special takes RCB to 196 after 20 overs.
After two excellent half-centuries from du Plessis and Patidar, it took an even better effort from Karthik to take the visitors to 196. Karthik walked out to bat unusually early, in the 13th over and after nine balls had just six runs to his name. He took down Akash Madhwal in the 16th over, using the ramp to third to great effect.
Four boundaries came in that over before Karthik added another four and a pair of sixes from Madhwal’s 20th over. Karthik’s unbeaten 53 off 23 made it only the 11th instance in the IPL for an innings to feature three half-centurions. His innings also powered RCB close to 200 but his innings was also a revelation of the easing batting conditions with the onset of dew.
Karthik, who has represented MI in the past, had the Wankhede crowd chanting his name when he picked a slower ball from Bumrah and launched it over extra-cover, providing a throwback to his six that won India the Nidahas Trophy in 2018.
He played a number of other sensational shots as well. When Madhwal denied him easy access to the shorter square boundary on the leg side, Karthik scooped him for a pair of fours over short third in the 16th over that cost MI 19 runs. Karthik also helped take 19 off Madhwal’s final over, also the final over of the innings, but it would not be enough for RCB.
Ishan Kishan’s powerplay hyperdrive sets tone for a huge MI win.
Any hopes RCB had of defending the score was to be a function of how their bowlers fared in the powerplay. Reece Topley and Mohammed Siraj found swing in their first overs respectively and MI’s openers made a circumspect beginning. All that changed in the third over when Kishan edged Topley only to be reprieved by Maxwell, who was placed wide at first slip.
Kishan proceeded to lay into the wayward RCB attack, dispatching Mohammed Siraj for two sixes and a four in a 23-run fifth over. Du Plessis turned to Maxwell’s off-spinners for some match-up advantage but saw the all-rounder leak 17 as Kishan reached a 23-ball half-century. The chase was as good as done with Mumbai Indians racing off to 72/0 after six overs.
Mohammed Siraj and Reece Topley swung the new ball in the early exchanges, but that didn’t stop Kishan from maximizing the powerplay. When Siraj swung one into his pads, he picked it up over square leg for six. Then, when Topley moved one away from him, Kishan crunched him over point. Kishan had a nervy moment on 12, when Topley found his edge, but it flew between keeper and first slip for four more. Kishan continued to deal in boundaries and repeated his feat of smashing a fifty in the powerplay for MI.
Suryakumar dishes out more punishment to RCB with return to form scoring a 17 ball fifty as MI makes an easy chase of 196 in just 15.3 overs.
If Kishan’s 34-ball 69 was rapid then what followed was a blitzkrieg. Suryakumar, in just his second game back from an injury, walked out in the ninth over behind a century opening stand and sent the opposition on a leather hunt. Akash Deep copped punishment to the tune of 24 runs in the 11th hour. All of the facets that make Suryakumar one of the best in the format: the wristy flicks, the slice over point for six, the walk across the crease and lap over short fine were all on display.
Suryakumar Yadav proceeded to take down Reece Topley for three fours and a six and in the process completed a half-century off just 17 balls – his fastest in the tournament history and the second-fastest for the season. The only good thing at that point for RCB on the night was that their pain didn’t last too long thereafter.
Akash Deep stopped Kishan on 69 and Jacks removed Rohit for 38, but there would be no respite for RCB. Their bowlers kept missing their lengths as the dew set in and Suryakumar went about making life even more difficult for them.
Suryakumar could have been dismissed on 15 but Maxwell dropped him at backward point and then left the field, writhing in pain. Suryakumar then unfurled his Supla shot and used his wrists and fast hands to scythe wide balls over point. He charged to his fastest T20 fifty with a sequence of 4, 6, 4, 4 off Topley in the 13th over. He holed out in the next over, but Hardik and Tilak Varma sealed a NRR-boosting win for MI with 27 balls in hand.
Presentations and Road Ahead.
Faf Du Plessis the loosing captain said : It’s a tough pill to swallow – combination of two things, very wet (the conditions with dew), I need to somehow win some tosses, secondly, they played really well, put the pressure on us and we made a lot of mistakes (especially during the powerplay).
We knew dew would be a factor, we might have needed to make 250+, but they made 196 look very less. You know when there’s dew coming, you’ll have to bat big, the ball was very wet, it was changed a few times and the bowlers struggled.
We also lost a few key moments, we were going well when myself and Patidar were out in the middle with that partnership, but they did come back well. Every time you see him with the ball in his hand (on Jasprit Bumrah), you think you’ll have to put him under pressure.
But he has so many skills, bowls well under pressure, he bowls with the same action and has a lot of variations. I think he has become even better under the guidance of Lasith Malinga. We would have loved if he was part of our team (smiles). We will have to find ways with the bat, get those big scores, we know our bowling is not our strongest suit, but we’ll have to find ways to manage it, we’ll have to be creative, go hard with the bat and make most of the first 4-5 overs with the bat.
Hardik Pandya the winning skipper said : Always good to win. The way we have won – it’s quite impressive. Impact player has given the opportunity to use an extra bowler if we require. It gives me a cushion as well. At the same point, if someone is having a bad day, it helps us to cover those overs. The way Ro and Kishan batted, giving the platform, it was important for us to finish it early. We didn’t speak about it. That’s the beauty of this team, players know what the situation is.
As soon as we saw the target get lesser, we thought we might as well finish it early for NRR. Blessed to have Bumrah in my side. He does it over and over again. Any time I ask him to bowl, he comes and does what he does. He practices a lot. Before doing anything in the game, he makes sure he practices in the nets. The amount of experience and confidence he has is tremendous.
I did tell him when he scored the fifty that welcome back (Surya). Always good to have Surya in your team with the areas he hits. I’ve been opposition captain as well against him, it’s tough to put field for him. Some place he hits, I’ve never seen batters hit there. (I’ll do) Whatever the situation requires – last game I had to take some time, and this game’s scenario was different. I’ve always been a fan of whatever the situation demands.
Jasprit Bumrah Player of the Match for his 5-fer said : I’m very happy with the outcome. But I will not say I had always thought of taking a five-for. Wicket was sticking in the first 10 overs. I observed that quickly and tried to use it to my advantage. One of those days where things went in my favour and catches went to hand. Very happy with the contribution. In this format, it’s anyway very harsh on the bowlers so you have to have all kinds of skills.
This is what I train for. Come this situation, I should have different options. I should not be a one-trick pony, and can’t just rely on yorker because there will be days where my execution is off so I can rely on other deliveries. Everyone is doing research and data, so people start to line you up. So I wanted to have different skills. Bowling is tough because you will have to take a beating, you will have to have bad days to learn from it.
What I’ve done in the past, whenever I’ve had bad days, I’ve watched videos the next day to see what didn’t work, why it didn’t work, what is the way I’ve been playing. All of these things, you have to be with the curve. Nowadays, you just cannot come on the day and say okay I’ll do this, maybe this will work.
For me, preparation is always the key. When you prepare hard, you put yourself under pressure in the nets. You bowl to batters in the nets who hit big sixes, find out how you react to pressure.
Then you start finding answers. That is very very important for me – to keep pushing yourself in training. Then on game day, you have answers that okay when I had similar pressure in training, I had answers. I do my research and see where the batter is strong. Sometimes the wicket is sticky, you don’t always need to bowl the yorker.
You can use the bouncer, you can use the slower ball. So you don’t need to use all tricks on one day. You have to understand where the game is going, what the wicket is. There’s no ego in this format. Even if you can bowl 145kph, but the wicket demands slower balls then you have to do that. All of these things are important. It’s not just one-trick pony – aim at the stumps and go pole hunting.
MI have beaten the hell out of RCB on a dewy evening here at the Wankhede today. A target of 197 chased down in just 15.3 overs with Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav smashing breathtaking fifties to make a mockery of the contest. Dinesh Karthik had put on a show himself towards the end of RCB’s innings to take them to 196, but what followed was a hammering with Kishan taking the lead in the powerplay, and then Surya doing Surya things enroute to his fastest fifty in IPL off just 17 balls.
You look at the figures of all the bowlers today from both teams, and it’s hard not to feel sorry for them. But then you look at Bumrah with figures of 5/21. No wonder Siraj is bowing to him before giving him a big hug as the teams meet for the handshakes. Different planet he’s from, and he didn’t allow RCB to get away in the death overs. The pitch started sticky, with the ball gripping a touch. But with dew settling in, it just became a belter and the visitors were blown away.
RCB’s bowling hasn’t gone too well this season in general, but what we witnessed today was a takedown of another level. MI have well and truly hit their stride now after those three consecutive defeats, and look really dangerous with the depth they have.