AB special not enough for RCB to see off Mumbai Indians

A brilliant knock from AB de Villiers and a great allround display from Moeen Ali weren't enough for the Royal Challengers Bangalore to see off the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede stadium.

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Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma strode out onto the Wankhede stadium to front the Mumbai Indians chase of a target of 172 and started with great intent.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore were confident that their effort of 171/7 still represented a good score.

Moeen, who scored 50 in a 95-run third-wicket partnership with De Villiers, said after the Royal Challengers innings: "To start with the pitch was quite tough, but once you get in it becomes easier. I think it's a decent score here.

"There was a period where we thought if we could get 170 it would be decent. Unfortunate with AB's run out, he was in the zone. But we're still happy with our total. We felt like we have to be a bit braver. When you have Virat and AB in the side, you do tend to rely on them. But players like myself had to step up."

De Villiers looked in sublime form for his 75 off 51 balls but was denied the opportunity to give his side a big finish by a poor call from Akshdeep Nath.

Akshdeep failed to come back for two in the final over and a direct hit from Kieron Pollard from the long on boundary caught De Villiers short as he tried to regain his crease.

Lasith Malinga finished up that final over well and ended with figures of 4/31, bagging the wickets of Akshdeep (2) and Pawan Negi (0). Of the 31 runs Malinga conceded 23 were scored by De Villiers off eight balls, the remaining 16 balls went for just eight.

That total did not look so good though when Rohit and De Kock got hold of the RCB quicks to give the Mumbai Indians a great start. De Kock rode his luck a little but dominated the early scoring. He whacked 25 of the 36 runs Mumbai Indians scored in just the first three overs.

The Royal Challengers by contrast were 20 for one halfway through their powerplay, losing Virat Kohli at the outset of Jason Behrendorff's second over, when the Aussie quick got the skipper to nick off for eight.

It's all over here at the Wankhede.@hardikpandya7's heroics with the bat on display as the @mipaltan win by 5 wickets with an over to spare.#MumbaiIndians pic.twitter.com/aFDmEhvdDZ

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 15, 2019

After four overs of the chase, Kohli turned to Yuzvendra Chahal in an attempt to get the breakthrough. De Kock looked less at ease against spin but still took full toll of the one bad ball in Chahal's first over which went for just six.

Chahal's efforts couldn't stop the Mumbai Indians openers from blasting 67 runs in the powerplay. Comparatively, the Royal Challengers Bangalore were 45 for one after six overs, with De Villiers just beginning to get going.

De Villiers shared a 37-run stand with Parthiv Patel (20) before the RCB keeper and opener was undone by a Hardik Pandya slower ball.

Moeen then joined De Villiers to turn the match back in the favour of RCB with an excellent stand for the third wicket.

The English allrounder produced another piece of match-turning cricket with the ball, ripping his first ball through Rohit to castle the Mumbai Indians skipper for 28, and three balls later doing De Kock with a lack of turn from around the wicket. De Kock (40) was trapped leg before at 71 for two in the eighth over.

Mumbai Indians held back their power-hitter Kieron Pollard, leaving Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav to consolidate.

Kishan pasted left-arm spinner Negi for successive sixes to suggest he was the right man for the job while Suryakumar took the attack to Moeen. Halfway through their allotted twenty overs Mumbai Indians were 97 for two and looking good for the win.

Chahal's return to the attack did little to deter Kishan but a lack of restraint allowed the leggie to have the left-hander stumped just a ball after being slapped for six.

Krunal Pandya joined Suryakumar to retain a left/right batting combination with Hardik and Pollard still being held back.

The bright start to the chase made by the Mumbai Indians allowed Krunal and Suryakumar to play relatively risk-free cricket against the RCB spinners. Moeen was bowled out and ended with figures of 2-18 from his four overs. The lack of dew in the outfield allowed RCB to get more and more turn as the innings went on but Mumbai handled it relatively well.

With five overs to go Mumbai Indians needed 45 runs to win and Kohli turned to Chahal. The Legspinner accounted for Suryakumar (29) who felt the need to get on with things but just failed to clear the long off fence and was caught in the deep.

Mumbai Indians needed 43 runs to win off 27 balls to beat RCB when Hardik joined his brother Krunal at the wicket.

With four overs remaining in the chase, Kohli turned back to his seamers and reintroduced Navdeep Saini who immediately went to the boundary off the bat of Hardik. Saini recovered well though to keep the pressure up until the last ball of his over saw Tim Southee, on as a substitute fielder, drop a tough catch. To add insult to injury, the ball rolled into the boundary rope.

Krunal holed out to Siraj after a battling 11 off 21 balls with Southee taking the catch in the deep just after he dropped Hardik. That brought Pollard to the wicket with 13 balls remaining and 24 runs to win.

With two overs to go, Kohli deployed his final over of spin but Negi failed to replicate the efforts of the other tweakers. Hardik (37*) decided that he didn't want to take things into the final over and took Negi for 22 to finish off a five-wicket victory.

MUMBAI INDIANS: Rohit Sharma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malinga, Jason Behrendorff.

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE: Parthiv Patel, Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villiers, Marcus Stoinis, Moeen Ali, Akshdeep Nath, Pawan Negi, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini.