Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) won a thriller against MI, which will be remembered for ages by RCB fans. Krunal Pandya on a belter of a wicket mixed his variations with wide off-stump yorkers & proper short ball deliveries. Krunal Pandya‘s 4 wicket haul helped RCB to win the encounter by 12 runs and end the drought of a win in Wankhede after 10 years
Mumbai Indians (MI) have now suffered two back-to-back defeats in IPL 2025. It was going to be a steep challenge to chase 222 runs, but the intent didn’t look like a side that has 5 titles to their name irrespective of not being able to win IPL since 2020. With this defeat, MI now have 4 looses to their name in 5 matches.
Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar struck half-centuries & Jitesh Sharma’s cameo adds fuel to RCB’s score
MI skipper Hardik Pandya asked RCB to bat first as the wicket was quite a batting paradise. Rohit Sharma came in the team and recovered from the knee injury. Phil Salt’s attitude of dominating Trent Boult and smashing back-to-back boundaries was a short lived one. Trent Boult bowled an in-swinging delivery and knocked his middle stump on the 2nd ball of the 1st over.
The Wankhede crowd just erupted in joy and that might be because the way Boult responded by sending Salt back in the pavilion. Then it was the show of Devdutt Padikkal & Virat Kohli. Jasprit Bumrah (*making a comeback after BGT 2024-25) was greeted in a great fashion by Virat Kohli on 2nd ball of 4th over by whacking a six over deep midwicket.
Will Jacks was given the ball in 5th over by Hardik Pandya, which proved to be a terrible move. Jacks gave away 10 runs in his over. RCB from nowhere scored 73 runs in 6 overs for loss of 1 wicket. Deepak Chahar got a brutal hammering in the 6th over of the match as he conceded 20 runs, and Padikkal was hitting boundaries all around the park.
Devdutt Padikkal, though fell into the trap of spinner Vignesh Puthur, but his quick knock of 37 runs in 22 balls gave the impetus to RCB’s batting. Virat Kohli was looking ominous given the way he was converting singles into doubles. Rajat Patidar, along with Virat Kohli not only toyed MI’s bowlers but displayed a great variation of smashing boundaries & rotating the strike and taking doubles.
The modern day great Virat Kohli though was duped by Hardik when he tried to play a pull shot but couldn’t time it properly. Virat’s magnificent knock of 67 runs in 42 balls with 8 fours and 2 sixes laid a near to perfect platform for RCB.
RCB in the last 5 overs accumulated 70 runs as Rajat Patidar was quite ruthless so was Jitesh Sharma. We aren’t familiar with Trent Boult giving away 57 runs in his 4 over spell as his 2 wicket haul didn’t carry much significance. Jasprit Bumrah was the only bright spot for MI who conceded less than 8 runs per over as there was carnage at Wankhede as RCB notched up a mammoth 221-5.
Hardik Pandya’s valiant effort goes in vain against Krunal’s witty bowling
MI needed Rohit Sharma & Ryan Rickelton to have a powerplay similar to RCB when they scored 73 runs. The entire MI fans were stunned when they saw an action replay because Rohit Sharma got bowled out in the exact same manner as Phil Salt got out in first innings. Yash Dayal on the 4th delivery of 2nd over, he bowled an inswinging delivery which Rohit couldn’t time it as his leg stump was uprooted.
Rohit Sharma’s string of low scores continues in IPL 2025 but given against RCB, he scored 17 runs in 9 balls with a better strike rate. Ryan Rickelton was undone by Josh Hazlewood’s brilliance who targeted his pads and got him LBW. The decision got overturned by third umpire via DRS as wicket-keeper Jitesh Sharma must be credited for his good presence of mind. MI scored 54-2 in 6 overs.
Suryakumar Yadav was badly struggling against Suyash Sharma as he was trying to hit the fifth or sixth stump ball to leg side & in trying to do that he played a lot of dot balls. MI’s score was 78-2 in 9 overs, despite the surface nor being a rank turner nor pacer friendly, it looked as if MI batters had decided their shots which is quite puzzling.
Will Jacks was feeling the pressure as the boundaries were dried up. Krunal Pandya bowled a short ball on 4th ball of 10th over and Virat Kohli at long leg made no mistake. MI’s score was 79-3 in 9.4 overs. RCB was hunting in a pack and making sure that the required run rate went beyond the unreachable rate.
Suryakumar Yadav got 2 lives at 23 & 27, who played shots a bit too early. Finally, in the last ball of the 12th over, the fielder at wide-off Liam Livingstone took a running catch & Yash Dayal got a wicket in the same over after being in a nasty collision with Jitesh Sharma. Suryakumar Yadav scored 28 runs in 26 balls and in those 26 deliveries he faced, he consumed 13 dot balls, which is massive in T20 cricket. MI’s score was 99-4 in 12 overs, needing another 123 runs to win from 8 overs, not an easily attainable task.
Hardik Pandya though took the task to his heart and from ball first, he started the onslaught to Hazlewood and struck him 2 fours and 2 sixes. MI scored 39 runs in 13th & 14th over with score now being 138-4 but still it was a long rally ahead for MI.
Hardik Pandya showed no mercy to Krunal in the 15th over as he hit him two back-to-back gigantic sixes as wide off-stump ploy wasn’t showing results for Krunal. MI were back in the game with needing 65 to in from 5 overs. In the 18th Over, Bhuveneshwar Kumar used an off-cutter to deceive Tilak Varma and he couldn’t clear the rope. Tilak’s knock of 56 runs in 29 balls put MI on brink of victory.
MI needed 28 runs to win from 2 overs and skipper Hardik along with Naman Dhir needed big hits to pull off a heist. Hazlewood on very first ball of 19th over bowled a low full toss yorker which Hardik couldn’t get a good hold to it and Liam Livingstone took a regulation catch at deep-midwicet. Hardik’s knock of 42 runs in 15 balls with 3 fours and 4 sixes was no less than a book cricket but MI needed 27 in 11 balls.
Krunal Pandya was given the job to bowl the ultimate over with MI needing 19 to win. Santner was on the strike & bowling around the stumps to Santner with a wide off stump yorker worked out amazingly as he holed the shot to long off. Then came Deepak Chahar who was surprised with a short ball & a terrific fielding display of Salt & David at deep mid wicket almost won the game for RCB.
Naman Dhir had to hit 3 sixes in last 3 balls to win the match with equation being to 17 to win from 3 balls. Krunal Pandya continued his splendid fast spin death bowling we can say and won the game for RCB. Krunal Pandya took a 4 wicket haul and conceded 45 runs and spoiled the party of MI & Hardik Pandya.
There’s a massive difference in why MI lost the game, they played 48 dot balls which is considered a crime in T20 cricket. RCB on the other hand, consumed 32 dot balls. Even after not scoring a single run for 8 overs, MI put up a fight in last 8 overs which somewhat suggests that the batting order needs a revamp quickly with Hardik Pandya playing as a proper middle order batter rather than finisher.
What lies ahead for MI & RCB
MI’s next encounter is against Delhi Capitals (DC) directly on Sunday, 13th April. Hardik Pandya’s blitz quite clearly suggests that there weren’t demons in the wicket, the likes of Suryakumar Yadav & Will Jacks’ intent raises eyebrows as the way they tackled Krunal Pandya & Suyash Sharma and their approach wasn’t that much aggressive.
RCB on the other side would be over the moon who earlier breached CSK’s Chepauk & now MI’s Wankhede. The side under the leadership of Rajat Patidar is gelling quite nicely. The way everyone stood up and contributed shows that this time RCB have got the winning formula earlier in the tournament. RCB now are placed at 3rd position on points table with 6 points and a NRR of +1.015 and their next match is against DC on 10th April at Bengaluru.
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