Mumbai Indians registered their first win in IPL 2018 by beating Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 14th match played at Wankedhe Stadium, Mumbai just finished a few minutes ago. Virat Kohli elected to field first after winning the toss. RCB took 2 wickets in the first balls, but Lewis and Rohit Sharma took the game away from RCB. Chasing a big total, apart from Virat Kohli none of the RCB batsmen contributed.
Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to field first. Umesh Yadav dismissed Surya Kumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan in the first two balls of the match. Evin Lewis smashed the Royal Challengers Bangalore bowlers with his aggressive batting while Rohit Sharma took time to settle. At the end of 6 overs, Mumbai Indians posted 60 for 2.
After the powerplay overs, Evin Lewis continued his aggressive hitting reaching his first IPL half-century off 34 balls. Both Rohit Sharma and Lewis added 108 runs. Evin Lewis was dismissed for 65. Rohit Sharma then took the charge reaching his half-century off 32 balls. The captain then smashed the Royal Challengers Bangalore to all parts of the ground. Rohit Sharma was finally dismissed for 94 off 52 balls. Hardik Pandya also made a quick-fire 17 off 7 balls. Mumbai Indians posted a massive total of 213 for 6 in 20 overs.
Chasing 214, Quinton de Kock and Virat Kohli gave the team a flying start adding 40 runs. Mitchell McClenaghan took the wickets of de Kock and AB de Villiers in the same over. Mumbai Indian bowlers did not allow Royal Challengers Bangalore to score runs with ease. Mandeep Singh and Corey Anderson went in successive balls.
Washington Sundar, Sarfaraz Khan, Chris Woakes, Umesh Yadav went cheaply. Kohli reached his 50 off 41 balls and continued to stay unbeaten on 92. RCB scored 167 for 8 in 20 overs.
MI 213 for 6 in 20 overs ( Rohit Sharma 94, Evin Lewis 65, Umesh Yadav 2/36, Corey Anderson 2/47) beat
RCB 167 for 8 in 20 overs ( Virat Kohli 92*, Quinton de Kock 19, Krunal Pandya 3/28, Bumrah 2/28, Mitchell McClenaghan 2/24) by 46 runs.
RCB captain Virat Kohli said: It was another poor bowling performance. We got 2 quick wickets but could not pressure on Mumbai Indians batting line up. Evin Lewis and Rohit Sharma batted brilliantly. We threw away our wickets and need to reflect on our dismissals. Credit goes to Mumbai Indians who played very well.
Mumbai Indians captain and a man of the match Rohit Sharma said: It was a complete team effort. After losing 2 wickets in the first 2 balls, I and Evin Lewis played with positive intent. Also, the bowlers did a great job to restrict Royal Challengers Bangalore line-up. The win gives us confidence going to coming matches. The way Lewis is batting and if he continues to bat like he is doing at the moment, then it will be easier for other batsmen to score runs easily.
It is RCB third loss in 4 matches. RCB needs to perform well as a unit to change their fortunes.
Rajasthan Royals will face Kolkata Knight Riders in tomorrow’s match at Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur.
