Mumbai Indians’ ’man for all seasons” Kieron Pollard’s scintillating strokeplay found its match in maverick Ishan Kishan as they nearly pulled off a Houdini Act before Navdeep Saini’s spectacular Super Over saw Royal Challengers Bangalore win an IPL humdinger on Monday. The small built Kishan put up a powerhouse performance scoring 99 off 58 balls with nine sixes while Pollard’s 60 off 24 saw them match RCB’s total of 201.
However, Saini bowled fast and straight in the Super conceding only seven with Hardik Pandya getting out. Virat Kohli after three bad matches did the needful as Jasprit Bumrah couldn’t defend a seven-run target with India captain winning it with a last-ball boundary. However, nothing can be taken away from Kishan and Pollard’s superlative batting as they got 89 off the 90 runs required in the last five overs with some breathtaking sixes primarily off leg spinners Adam Zampa and Yuzvendra Chahal. The standout bowler for RCB was young Washington Sundar with figures of 1 for 12 in 4 overs.
RCB now has two wins from three games winning this edition’s second Super Over after Delhi Capitals beat Kings XI Punjab in the first one. Earlier, AB de Villiers turned the clock back with his magnificent hitting after Aaron Finch and Devdutt Padikkal’s stroke-filled half-centuries took RCB to an imposing 201 for 3 after being put into bat. It was De Villiers, who used all his might during the death overs to smash his way to an unbeaten 55 off 24 balls, taking the score past 200-run mark. His innings had four sixes and as many boundaries as the swift yet brutal assault of Jasprit Bumrah (0/42 in 4 overs) will be remembered for a long time.
Even James Pattinson (0/51 in 4 overs) received a lot of stick as two-speed merchants accounted for 8 off the 10 sixes in the RCB innings. The remaining couple were hit off MI’s most successful bowler Trent Boult (2/34). The last five overs produced 78 runs with Shivam Dube scoring 27 not out off 10 balls.
While Australia’s white-ball skipper Aaron Finch scored 52 off 35 balls to get his team off to a flying start, the extremely elegant Padikkal upped the ante in the later half with some delightful big hits, scoring 54 off 40 balls. The duo added 81 runs for the opening stand. Padikkal’s innings was studded with five boundaries and two sixes and a good stand of 62 runs for the third wicket with De Villiers, who then provided the final flourish as he has been doing for years now. The tall upright Padikkal’s second IPL half-ton will be remembered especially for two sixes off fast bowler James Pattinson. The first was when the left-hander rocked on the backfoot and punched it over mid-off and the next was a stand and deliver straight into the sightscreen.
This was after Finch took on the MI attack in the Powerplay overs and attacked both Bolt and Pattinson with great gusto. When leg spinner Rahul Chahar was introduced into the attack, Finch hit him for three boundaries as the 50 came off 31 balls. At that point, Padikkal was only on 16. Once Finch was holed out off a Boult slower, in came Kohli and looked as rusty as the last match during his nine-ball stay. MI skipper Sharma changed Chahar’s end, it yielded result as a delivery stopped on Kohli and his lazy inside out lofted shot was gleefully accepted at extra cover by Rohit.
Once De Villiers came in, Padikkal, changed gears as both started attacking the bowlers as a square cut off Kieron Pollard brought up his half-century.
