New Delhi: Royal Challengers Bengaluru produced a brilliant all-round performance to beat Mumbai Indians by 18 runs in a high-scoring IPL encounter at Wankhede. Phil Salt, Virat Kohli and the captain scored explosive half-centuries. Rajat PatidarRCB posted a massive 240/4, which MI couldn’t quite chase down despite a late fightback led by Sheriff Rutherford.RCB came out swinging from the start, with Kohli setting the tone in trademark fashion, hitting a brilliant six with an early six. Phil Salt then took charge, tearing apart the MI attack with fearless strokeplay, punishing both pace and spin as he was dismissed for 78 off just 36 balls.
An opening stand of 120 put MI on the back foot immediately.Even when MI tried to change the bowlers, nothing worked. Salt hit Mitchell Santner for three consecutive sixes, while Mayank Markande was dismissed. Finally, Shardul Thakur broke Salt by dismissing him, but the damage was already done.Rajat Patidar then walked in and went into full attack mode, scoring a 17-ball fifty and continuing the carnage on the infield with clean hitting. Kohli kept one end steady by reaching his fifty before falling in the 15th over after scoring 50 off 37 balls. Tim David then added an unbeaten 34 to push RCB to 240.
The MI eventually subsided.
Despite a good start, Mumbai Indians’ chase was not entirely settled. Ryan Rickelton looked promising with 37 off 22, but wickets at crucial moments derailed the momentum. Rohit Sharma’s injury retirement initially hurt his balance further.Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya tried to rebuild, but the RCB bowlers continued to strike at intervals. Krunal Pandya’s tight spell and Suyash Sharma’s breakthroughs in the middle overs ensured that MI never got a real launch pad, going several overs without a six during a crucial phase.The only real resistance came late on from Sheriff Rutherford, who reduced the margin to an unbeaten 71 off 31 balls, peppered with sixes. However, the target of 241 proved too big, and MI ended on 222/5.In the end, RCB’s top-order firepower and early dominance led to a comfortable 18-run win in a run-fest at Wankhede.
