Bangalore thrashed Mumbai by 54 runs and ended a seven-game winless run in UAE. The win put them four points ahead of Kolkata, who occupies the fourth spot in the points table. It was their second successive win over Mumbai this season. On the other hand, Rohit Sharma’s men suffered a third straight defeat and are seventh in the standings. Among the teams tied with eight points, Mumbai has the worst net run rate.
Glenn Maxwell played a starring role in Bangalore’s thumping win. The Aussie was the top scorer with 56 runs and grabbed the wickets of Rohit and Krunal Pandya. However, Harshal Patel stole the headlines after picking up a hat-trick and a four-wicket haul. Yuzvendra Chahal, too, came up with a delightful performance, claiming three wickets for just 11 runs. Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli, dropped on 0 and 37, made a second successive half-century in the tournament.
It was the batting unit that let Mumbai down. Apart from the openers, no other players reached double-digit scores. Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, who found a place in India’s T20 World Cup squad, haven’t been able to make an impact in the UAE leg yet. Hardik Pandya, too, has been disappointing this season.
Leading from the front
Mumbai, opting to bowl first after winning the toss, could have sent Kohli back to the pavilion in the second ball of the match. Kohli flicked Trent Boult off his pads to the deep square leg. Rahul Chahar got a hand to it but couldn’t stop it from going for a six. However, Jasprit Bumrah made the opening breakthrough in his first over. Devdutt Padikkal nicked the ball behind to the wicketkeeper for a duck.
Kohli went after Bumrah and Adam Milne in the powerplay. He smashed sixes off both the pacers and went past 10,000 T20 runs. Bangalore was 48/1 at the end of the first six overs. K S Bharat, at the other end, managed to rotate the strike well and wasn’t afraid to play his shots. He holed out to Suryakumar for 32 in the ninth over.
Maxwell on fire
After the halfway point, new man Maxwell successfully executed a few switch-hits. Kohli reached his half-century, while Maxwell quickly moved to 28. Milne broke the 51-run stand by removing the Bangalore skipper.
De Villiers and Maxwell added 30 off two overs as Bangalore moved to 156/3 after 18 overs. Wickets in consecutive balls for Bumrah and a tidy final over from Boult forced Bangalore to settle for 165/6. Maxwell departed after bringing up his ninth Indian T20 League fifty, while the former South Africa batsman made a brisk 11. Bumrah claimed another three-wicket haul in the tournament. Fellow Mumbai pacer Boult bowled economically, conceding just 17 off his four overs.
A quickfire start
Rohit and Quinton de Kock bossed the Bangalore bowlers in the powerplay. Jamieson, yet to find his rhythm in the UAE leg, conceded a hat-trick of boundaries. The duo scored 15 runs off Dan Christian’s first over. Mohammed Siraj and Harshal, too, couldn’t keep Rohit and De Kock at bay.
The introduction of Chahal after the powerplay changed the complexion of the match. He sent De Kock back to the dressing room after the South African picked out Maxwell at deep midwicket. Kohli tried Maxwell at the other end, but Rohit took him to the cleaners. He tried to repeat the same in Maxwell’s second over but holed out to Padikkal at long-on. Ishan skied the ball to Harshal to give Chahal his second wicket in the match. From 57/0, Mumbai lost three wickets for just 24 runs.
The required rate started to climb as Mumbai struggled to find boundaries. Krunal and Suryakumar departed in the space of six balls. Maxwell cleaned up Krunal for 5. Chahal took a sitter to dismiss Suryakumar. Mumbai, with Kieron Pollard and Hardik at the crease, needed 67 runs from five overs.
The Hat-trick
Harshal, in his second spell, struck immediately with the wicket of Hardik. He skied the ball to Kohli at cover. The 30-year-old picked up two in two after cleaning up Pollard with a slower one. It was Chahar who faced the hat-trick ball. Harshal bowled another slower one, and it struck on the spinner’s pad. The umpire raised his finger, much to the delight of the medium pacer and his teammates. It was the first hat-trick in the league since the 2019 season.
Bangalore bundled out Mumbai for 111. Chahal bagged his third wicket, and Harshal clean bowled Milne to register his 23rd wicket of the season. Bangalore will face Rajasthan in their next game, while Mumbai will meet Punjab on Tuesday.
Bangalore 165/6 in 20 overs (G Maxwell 56, V Kohli 51; J Bumrah 3/36)
Mumbai 111 all out in 18.1 overs (R Sharma 43; H Patel 4/17, Y Chahal 3/11, G Maxwell 2/23)
Parameswaran Sankaranarayanan
Parameswaran Sankaranarayan is a sports enthusiast who has worked in print, website, and other digital platforms. He was part of the editorial team of first-ever Indian football-based website - IndianFootball.com (now defunct) - and passionately follows the latest happenings in world football. During his time as a journalist, he had the opportunity to interact with some of the iconic personalities in Indian sports and witness some memorable moments in Indian football.
Read All Articles >
