RCB 142-1 after 18 overs
Gayle 82, Kohli 36
God… that was easy. When Gayle bats in this manner, it is hard to stop him. He played out Malinga calmly and then made the other bowlers pay a heavy price. Mumbai have a lot of problems. RCB, on this performance, should make it to the semis. Still a lot of cricket to be played though. We’ll end on this note: Hehe. Shastri says Gayle has become cleverer with every outing.
RCB 111-1 after 15 overs
Gayle 71, Kohli 17
There is only one rule in T20 cricket — you do not drop Chris Gayle. Mumbai Indians did that and are getting crushed now. They never had enough runs on the board and they never managed to get any wickets either. And then they dropped Gayle.
RCB 48-1 after 8.3 overs
T Dilshan c Karthik b Ojha 19 (25b, 3×4)
Dilshan given out bat-pad. He seems shocked. And perhaps it was right to be that way. No evidence of ball hitting the bat in the replays. What was Billy Bowden thinking?
RCB 27-0 after 5 overs
Dilshan 10, Gayle 15
RCB have to basically play out Malinga. If they could do that and they have, they will win. The rest of Mumbai’s bowling just isn’t good enough. That’s how it is.
MI 141-6 after 20 overs
Pollard 21, Harbhajan 20
Some lusty blows have given Mumbai a decent chance of a win if they can bat well but for starters, they will need to get Gayle out early though. And then there is De Villiers. And there’s Dilshan too. Too much firepower!
MI 100-6 after 15.4 overs
D Smith c Vinay Kumar b Muralitharan 2 (3b)
Smith shows why he is a cameo star. Match-winner in the last game and gone now.
MI 100-5 after 15.4 overs
K Karthik c Kohli b Muralitharan 44 (39b, 3×4, 1×6)
Mumbai’s top-scorer falls. He had just started to get going and tried to slog Murali — which is never a good idea. Kohli took it easily.
MI 85-4 after 14 overs
A Rayudu c Muralitharan b Patel 22 (17b, 2×4)
The partnership is broken and at no stage in the match have Mumbai looked like they are capable to breaking away.
MI 73-3 after 13 overs
Karthik 23, Rayudu 17
Karthik hits a six to bring about the second strategic timeout but honestly we were all surprised to see that shot. Perhaps the batsman was surprised as well. MI have big hitters waiting in the dug out and it seems like a crime to have them sit there. Pollard and Smith would love to have a go at the bowling.
MI 41-3 after 8.3 overs
SR Tendulkar c & b Patel 24 (27b, 4×4)
Sachin falls. MI 41-3. Crowd finally silent. He made 24 off 27… slower than a run-a-ball. Again. He can’t really slog anymore. The odd great T20 innings — the consistency is lacking.
MI 37-2 after 8 overs
Sachin 20, Karthik 9
The run-rate is still bad. There is something in the pitch but there is more than something in the RCB batting line-up. De Villiers and Gayle to begin with are in deadly form and so is Dilshan.
MI 25-2 after 6 overs
Sachin 16, Karthik 3
And Sachin has come alive. He has slammed three fours off Vinay Kumar’s third over, which went for 13 runs. Perfect balance and all that jazz, Sachin is looking good.
MI 5-2 after 4 overs
Sachin 2, Karthik 1
Slow and not so steady by MI. Sachin is struggling but Bangalore are bowling superbly. Vinay Kumar and Zaheer Khan have been accurate and have kept the runs down to a minimum. Maybe this is all planned… Harbhajan did say he planned to bat first.
Off twitter, @rajeshstats: MI’s 5 for 2 the lowest score after 4 overs in IPL history. Mumbai had the previous record too – 7 for 2 v Daredevils earlier this season.
MI 2-2 after 1.4 overs
RG Sharma lbw b Vinay Kumar 0 (3b)
Vinay Kumar is worth a million. He’s got Rohit — trapped lbw; good appeal. Crowd still cheers. Sachin hai na! Pollard bhi hai! Dinesh Karthik bhi hai and Dwayne Smith bhi hai!
MI 1-1 after 1.2 overs
J Franklin c Khan b Vinay Kumar 1 (6b)
Franklin falls. Sachin still there. Fans continue to cheer. Yeh IPL hai mere bhai! Haha. Anyway, bad start for MI, Franklin hits the big shots early on while Tendulkar takes his time getting set.
Pre-game
RCB have won the toss and have decided to bowl first. Mumbai Indians skipper Harbhajan Singh said he would elected to bat first anyway.
Sachin needs to play a good knock again. PTI
Mumbai are playing Dwayne Smith, the hero from the last game, and Kieron Pollard. Meanwhile for Bangalore, Kohli is skipper again.
Squads:
Mumbai Indians
JEC Franklin, SR Tendulkar, RG Sharma, KD Karthik†, AT Rayudu, DR Smith, KA Pollard, Harbhajan Singh*, SL Malinga, PP Ojha, RP Singh.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
TM Dilshan, CH Gayle, V Kohli*, AB de Villiers†, MA Agarwal, SS Tiwary, J Syed Mohammad, R Vinay Kumar, Z Khan, HV Patel, M Muralitharan.
