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In a tense encounter at the Wankhede Stadium Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) held their nerve to notch a thrilling 12-run win over Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 7.
Chasing a target of 222 runs, Mumbai Indians found themselves in a precarious situation at 99/4 in the 12th over. However, a dynamic partnership then unfolded as Hardik Pandya joined Tilak Varma, shifting the momentum of the game dramatically in MI's favor. The duo forged a lightning 89-run stand in just 34 balls, bringing their team back into contention. RCB bowlers appeared to be under immense pressure as Pandya blazed his way to 42 runs off a mere 15 deliveries, including three boundaries and four sixes, while Tilak Varma went on to score a blistering half-century, eventually contributing 56 runs off 29 balls, studded with four fours and an equal number of sixes.
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The experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar finally broke this stunning partnership when Varma was caught out. In the following over, the Australian veteran Josh Hazlewood claimed the crucial wicket of Pandya. Despite these breakthroughs, the match was far from over, with MI needing 19 runs in the final over with Naman Dhir and Mitchell Santner at the crease. Krunal Pandya (4/45) bowled the decisive final over, picking up three wickets to clinch RCB's first win at the Wankhede Stadium in a decade. He finished with an impressive four wickets, while Hazlewood and Yash Dayal each took two wickets, ultimately restricting MI to 209 for nine at the end of their 20 overs.
But what cost MI big time was their shoddy bowling. Barring Jasprit Bumrah, all the six bowlers were taken to cleaners by RCB's batters. Trent Boult did take two wickets but conceded 57 runs in his four-over spell at an economy of 14.25. Then came Deepak Chahar who gave away 29 runs in two overs at an economy of 14.50 without taking a single wicket. Even Pandya conceded runs at an economy of 11.25 with two wickets under his belt. Will Jacks, Vignesh Puthur and Mitchell Santner recorded an economy of 10 in their respective spells.
The way wicket was, the bowlers didn't really have much place to hide: Hardik Pandya
In the post-match presentation, Pandya said he doesn't want to be harsh on his bowlers as they didn't have much place to hid the way wicket was playing.
"It was a run-fest. The wicket was really good. I was just talking about that to myself that again we fell short with two hits, I don't have much to say. (Was 221 par or above-par?) The way the wicket was, the bowlers didn't really have much place to hide. It came down to execution. You can stop the batters but I don't want to be harsh on the bowlers. It was a tough track, not many options we had," Pandya said in post-match presentation.
While explaining the change in Naman Dhir's batting order, the star all-rounder said:
"(No. 3 position) The original skeleton of our team, Naman was always batting down the order. It's just that in the last game, Ro wasn't available, so we had to push someone up and someone like him has the multi-dimensional game where he can come up as well and can play in the death as well. Once Ro was back, we knew that Naman would have to come down. Tilak was fantastic. In this sort of games, powerplay is crucial. It comes down to execution - we were not able to play those dots. Having him (Bumrah) makes any team pretty special. He came in and did his job, very happy to have him. In life, always see the positive side. Go out there and play your best cricket of life. We are all backing them," he added.
RCB will next face Delhi Capitals (DC) on April 10 while MI will also take on the same team but on April 13.
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