Mumbai Indians’ on Sunday suffered their third straight defeat in the ongoing IPL after Rohit Sharma-led side experienced another batting collapse.
Chasing a target of 166 against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians were all out for 111 runs. Mumbai Indians’ tormentor-in-chief was Harshal Patel, who pulled of an incredible hat-trick for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 17th over by dismissing Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya in three successive deliveries when the Mumbai Indians’ total was 106. He finished with 4-17 in 3.1 overs.
Batting first, Virat Kohli’s side had amassed 165-6 in their quota of 20 overs. Glenn Maxwell made 56 while Kohli contributed with another half-century. The Indian skipper surpassed 10,000 T20 runs as he played a knock of 51.
Mumbai Indians began their run chase on a promising note as they put up 79-1 by losing just one wicket in less than 10 overs. However, their batting collapse started with the departure of Sharma, who was out for 43. Soon, it became 97-5 with the required run-rate spiralling out of control for Mumbai Indians.
Such was the batting collapse for Mumbai Indians that aside from Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock, no other batsmen were able to reach a double-figure. Three of their batsmen were dismissed without scoring a single run.
Reacting to his side’s defeat, Sharma said after the match, “Thought it was a fantastic bowling effort. Looked like they were going to get 180. The batters just let us down. The opening issue has been happening consistently. We have to make sure that the batters carry on. I played a bat shot today and got out; I felt that was the game-changing moment.
“We need to find ways to bounce back from whatever situations we are in. Kishan is a talented player, we just need to understand the freedom he needs, and need to provide him with that. He had a terrific IPL last year. We wanted to give him the opportunity. He is relatively young and making his way into international cricket.”
In another IPL encounter earlier in the day, Chennai Super Kings defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by two wickets to cement their position at the top of the points table.
This was after the KKR made 171-6 in 20 overs with Rahul Tripathi scoring the bulk of the runs for his side. He made 45, while Nitish Rana contributed with 37 runs.
Chennai Super Kings achieved the target by losing eight wickets. Faf du Plessis made 43, while Ruturaj Gaikwad Moeen Ali made 40 and 32 respectively.
