Hosts nullify Gayle threat before demolishing Bangalore by 58 runs; Smith (50*) named MoM; Dhawal (3/19) sizzles in first match.
In the end, the storm never turned up.
Just as Chris Gayle opened his shoulders, a smart catch by Ambati Rayudu on the mid-wicket boundary off Harbhajan Singh meant the storm didn’t event kiss Mumbai, leave alone create mayhem. The West Indian monster lasted just 20 balls and scored 18 runs.
Rayudu managed to stay inside the ropes and the crowd went berserk. Bhajji broke into ‘Gangnam’ jig, a celebration associated with Gayle. The law of averages finally caught up with Gayle and the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who have depended heavily on the opener, skipper Virat Kohli (1) and AB de Villiers (2) as far as their batting department is concerned. On Saturday, they realised that over-dependence can be dangerous.
Kohli and de Villiers were sent back in identical fashion by Dhawal Kulkarni, who was playing his first match of the season. Those twin strikes broke Bangalore’s back and they never quite recovered as Mumbai Indians came up trumps to record a dominant 58-run win. It was also their third win in as many matches at the Wankhede.
Despite the heavy defeat, Bangalore still top the standings with 12 points while Mumbai move to fourth with 10.
Earlier, Mumbai posted a competitive 194/7. Electing to bat, they had their task cut out on a lively pitch. When a R Vinay Kumar bouncer goes over a leaping wicketkeeper, there has to some juice in the wicket. But did that matter to Mumbai batsmen? It didn’t.
Sachin Tendulkar, Dwayne Smith, Dinesh Karthik, Kieron Pollard and Harbhajan Singh made sure the runs kept flowing. Tendulkar got off to a flier but his 13-ball 23 was cut short by RP Singh whose ball nipped back sharply to catch the maestro leg-before.
Smith, sedate till then, joined hands with Karthik and ensured Mumbai maintained a healthy run-rate. The former relished the pace-heavy Bangalore attack and took a special liking to Kumar, scoring 26 off him in just 11 balls. His 36-ball 50 was his second half-century on the trot. Their 68-run partnership for the second-wicket made sure the innings didn’t fell apart. Karthik’s (42), Pollard (34) and Harbhajan (16) made sure Mumbai posted the third-highest total this season.
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