Chennai: AB de Villiers rolled back the years with his beautiful yet cruel attack when Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated defending champions Mumbai Indians by two wickets in a final thriller in the Indian Premier League here.
De Villiers smashed 48 runs off 27 balls after RCB dropped to 106 at 106. Harshal Patel cut off his dream day by scraping off a slide from the last delivery to reach the goal of 160 in 20 overs. Haryana’s Harshal finally had his night under 5 for 27, which helped RCB limit MI to 159 for nine. MI again lost the first game as was the tradition in the IPL, but they lost it to de Villiers, who turned the script into a space of two overs by two MI spinners Rahul Chahar (0/43) and Krunal Pandya (1) to attack. / 25).
His attack prompted Rohit Sharma to complete his best bowler Jasprit Bumrah (2/26 in 4 overs) before the final over, which required seven runs. RCB was in charge when Glenn Maxwell (39 off 28 balls) came in and upset Chahar’s butt spinner with an inverted pull limit.
The captain, Virat Kohli (33 runs from 29 balls), got a little stuck as the innings progressed. However, Maxwell’s attack meant Kohli could take his time. It was MI’s strike bowler Bumrah, who came back for his second game on the back ten and removed the Indian captain with an angular delivery.
Earlier, Harshal suffered a death toll among masters class, which kept the MI total in check. He scored three wickets in his last over for a run and also becomes the first bowler to score a five-wicket series against the Mumbai Indians. Reserve starting batsman Chris Lynn (49 off 35 balls) partially corrected his part in a horrific mix that led to attacking captain Rohit Sharma (19 off 15 balls) by adding 70 runs in seven overs for the second wicket with Suryakumar. Yadav (31 off 23 balls). The stand was the platform that MI had to fire during the rear.
Source: Telangana Today