IPL 2017: Rohit's composed half-century seals playoff berth for MI

Mumbai Indians’ dream run in this IPL extended with their eighth win in 10 matches, six of them coming while chasing. Their latest victory by five wickets with one ball to spare against the already-eliminated Royal Challengers Bangalore here on Monday has sealed their place in the play-offs, joining Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad. The fight now gets tougher for the fourth Play-off spot between Kings XI Punjab, Rising Pune Supergiant, Gujarat Lions and Delhi Daredevils.

On a pitch that promised more runs than the 162/8 that RCB posted, Mumbai Indians calculated their chase brilliantly. Rohit Sharma’s MI have been good chasers this season. But, in Match No. 38, Mumbai Indians needlessly stretched it too far, making it exciting for the packed-to-capacity Wankhede Stadium.

What worked in MI’s favour was that their captain Rohit Sharma stayed till the end and finished it for his team, rather than leave it to anyone else. He ensured that MI took 30 runs needed off the last three overs and received help from Hardik Pandya, who eased the pressure with a six off the last ball of the 18th over sent down by Aniket Choudhary.

Mumbai Indians’ chase was not completely smooth, though. They faced some bumpy rides, largely created by the RCB left-arm spinner Pawan Negi, who bowled in the middle overs in one straight spell from the eighth to 14th. Negi was not only miserly by giving away only 17 runs in his four overs but also picked up two crucial wickets, of Jos Buttler and Nitish Rana, both caught by Travis Head with the second one at the mid-wicket boundary a smart one, keeping the ball in play while stepping out of the boundary and coming back in to complete the catch.

The MI innings went neck-and-neck with RCB’s. Rohit anchored the innings admirably even as he lost partners, the more important of them being Nitish Rana and Kieron Pollard. For a brief while, Karn Sharma, who replaced Harbhajan Singh, who was down with a left-foot problem, gave sensible support to Rohit. Karn took singles and gave his captain the strike. It looked like RCB were back in the game with every wicket they took but the presence of Rohit in the middle saved MI the day.

Earlier, choosing to bat after winning the toss, RCB’s AB de Villiers extended his love affair with the Wankhede with another blistering knock. His 43 should have been at least double but for his own fault. After slog-sweeping Krunal Pandya for six over mid-wicket, the South African went for a similar shot only to top-edge behind the wicket for Jasprit Bumrah to complete a running catch.

It seemed that RCB’s competitive total would depend only on De Villiers’ slam-bang approach. After the collective failures of the top three Virat Kohli, Mandeep Singh and Travis Head – all of whom failed to make good their starts – the responsibility fell on De Villiers’s shoulders. The 33-year-old Protea right-hander depended on his horizontal shots on either side of the wicket for boundaries.

However, with the fall of De Villiers in the 13th over, RCB did not seem like touching 150. Kedar Jadhav was not in his elements. Thanks to Negi’s 35 off 23 balls at No. 7, RCB managed to add 30 runs in their last three overs and cross 150. Negi slammed Lasith Malinga for two sixes in an over and followed it with another over long-on off Bumrah. Negi dominated the 54-run sixth wicket stand with Jadhav that the Maharashtra right-hander was completely outplayed and overshadowed by the Delhi left-hander’s strokeplay.