Mumbai resist Bangalore challenge

Mumbai: Skipper Rohit Sharma led from the front with a sparkling half-century before Mumbai Indians rallied to comfortably defeat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 19 runs in their Indian Premier League match here on Tuesday.
Invited to bat, Mumbai Indians rode on Rohit’s 35-ball 59 and Kieron Pollard’s handy 43 off 31 balls to post a stiff 187 for five. In reply, Royal Challengers Bangalore lost their way from 94 for one in the 10th over to be restricted to 168 for eight.
Bangalore started their run chase at a brisk pace with Parthiv Patel and Chris Gayle at the helm. The duo stitched a quick 53-run stand before the wicketkeeper’s stumps were shattered by Harbhajan Singh.
Patel struck five fours for his 26 but Gayle was the aggressor of the two, carting the bowlers all over the park.
He hit Pawan Suyal for two sixes and an equal number of fours in the third over, with the bowler going for 28 runs. RCB dominated the start and scored 43 runs in three overs.
However, Gayle could not continue the onslaught and was castled by Harbhajan in the 10th over. His 24-ball 38 was laced with three fours and as many sixes.
RCB captain Virat Kohli was given a reprieve when he was dropped on 32 by Jasprit Bumrah at short-fine leg off Lasith Malinga.
Bumrah, however, managed to dismiss the dangerous AB de Villiers (9) cheaply in the next over, when the batsman attempted a sweep shot.
Kohli could not capitalise on the advantage handed to him and departed five balls later, thanks to a brilliant catch by Corey Anderson at long -off. At that stage, RCB were 119 for four, requiring 69 runs off 39 balls.
Mumbai wrested back the momentum when the visitors further lost two quick wickets, as Kieron Pollard put his football skills to good use to kick the ball at the stumps to run out Yuvraj Singh and caught Mitchell Starc at cover off Malinga in the next over.
Rilee Rossouw struck a 14-ball 24 but it was an uphill task for RCB after the South African was dismissed in the penultimate over, with the team needing 29 runs off 10 balls.
Earlier, Rohit combined with Pollard to forge a 60-ball 97-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
“This is what MI is all about, we took some brilliant catches, we bowled well, batted well and fielded well,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Talking about the dew factor, Rohit said, “Wankhede always has some dew but the bowlers did very well. They kept things calm. Suyal came back very well and things slowed down for RCB. We kept taking wickets.”
And as far as his unbeaten 35-ball 59 was concerned, the Man-of-the-Match said, “It was important for me to step up and I’m glad I played an important knock. We’re keeping our heads up. We need to be positive. The next game against CSK is also very important.”
RCB captain Kohli said they could have batted smarter.
“It was very gettable, we could have batted smarter, one more partnership was needed. It was a dream start, we could not capitalise on it,” Kohli said referring to the opening stand of 53 in just over five overs betwen Gayle and Patel.
Asked about the ugly on-field spat between his player Starc and MI’s Pollard, Kohli said, “Every team plays hard and these sort of things happen. If we had applied ourselves we could have crossed the line.” (PTI)