IPL 10 RCB vs MI: Mumbai bowlers restrict Bangalore to 142/5

Bengaluru: Mumbai Indians (MI) bowlers did a fantastic job in restricting the most flamboyant batsmen in the world from freeing their arms much, as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) could only manage to post 142/5 in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the M Chinnaswamy ground here on Friday.

Virat Kohli, who returned to the helm of RCB after recovering from his shoulder injury, scored a half-century but looked mostly off-colour during his 62-run knock which came off 47 balls, and was decorated with 5 fours and 2 sixes.

It was clearly evident that the pitch was not a regular Chinnaswamy wicket as even the likes of Chris Gayle (22 off 27) and AB de Villiers (19 off 21) failed to score as quickly as they usually do. Mr 360° fell prey to a stunning catch by MI captain Rohit Sharma off Krunal Pandya's bowling.

Kedar Jadhav got run out on a free hit after adding 9 runs off 8 balls, while Mandeep Singh suffered a golden duck. Pawan Negi also tried to accelerate the scoring rate during the slog overs but failed miserably, as he could score 13 runs off 13 balls. Stuart Binny remained unbeaten at 6 runs off 4 balls.

Also Read: IPL 10: Kohli-led RCB to bat first as MI wins toss | Live Streaming on hotstar.com

Hardik Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan and Krunal Pandya were among the successful bowlers as they claimed one, two and one wicket, respectively, while Harbhajan Singh bowled a superb four-spell to Kohli and Gayle, conceding just 23 runs.

Rohit Sharma took the full advantage of misbehaving pitch as he did not let the RCB batsmen settle down by rotating the bowlers quite efficiently. Tim Southee, who came in the squad for Lasith Malinga, and Jasprit Bumrah were the only bowlers who went expensive conceding 23 runs in two overs and 39 runs in four overs, respectively.

Mumbai Indians will soon come back on the ground to chase down a mediocre target of 143 runs.