The Mumbai Indians have finally beaten Royal Challengers Bangalore this season as Suryakumar Yadav’s unbeaten knock of 79 ensured that Mumbai Indians cross the winning line and at the same time confirm their place in the playoffs for this season as the defending champions look to defend their 2019 title.
It all started at the toss as Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bowl first at Abu Dhabi. Mumbai Indians went unchanged whereas Royal Challengers Bangalore made as many as three changes to their side as Aaron Finch, Moeen Ali and Navdeep Saini made way for Joshua Phillipe, Dale Steyn and Shivam Dube in the side. The men in blue were yet again without their skipper Rohit Sharma as Kieron Pollard continued to lead in this game as well.
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Mumbai Indians On the Verge of Securing Playoff Spot
Batting first Royal Challengers Bangalore were off to a great start as Joshua Phillipe and Devdutt Padikkal put up a fifty run partnership. Following the fall of the wicket of both the openers there wasn’t much spark in the line up as Jasprit Bumrah picked three as they posted a total of 164 which was marginally 20-25 runs short of what they would want to have on the board.
In Mumbai Indians chase, they lost both openers very early on in the innings at one point of time it looked like Mumbai Indians might just struggle to chase this down. But there was one man waiting at three who took the onus on himself as Suryakumar Yadav scored an unbeaten knock of 79 runs off 43 deliveries to seal the win for MI.
Pleased To Have Finished The Game: Surya Kumar Yadav
The man of the match of today’s game between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore was Surya Kumar Yadav. At the post-match presentation, Suryakumar Yadav said that in the lockdown he’s worked a lot on his offside game since he used to prefer playing shots on the leg side. He also mentioned that the back foot punch to Dale Steyn and hitting Yuzvendra Chahal over covers were his favourite shots of the day.
“I was looking to finish the game. I was looking to learn what my game is. Happy to have finished it. A lot of meditation has helped. One over the cover to Chahal and the back foot punch off Steyn were my favourites. I have worked on my game during the lockdown. I used to love playing on the on-side before.”
“Pleased to have finished the game. The team management and Rohit told me before the start of the tournament that you have played enough to take the game deep. I am glad I have been able to do it,” Suryakumar Yadav said.