On this day in 2015 - A Special Partnership helps RCB beat MI

Chris Gayle’s heroics a few days ago had meant RCB dismantled Kings XI Punjab. Riding high on the wave of a huge victory, Royal Challengers Bangalore took on the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede stadium. With ten fixtures of the league phase of the 2015 season gone and having won only half of them, another defeat would have meant that every remaining game would be a virtual knockout.

On a humid Sunday afternoon at the Wankhede stadium, Royal Challengers won the toss and elected to bat first. Mumbai began with a plan of bowling short at Gayle, and when the Jamaican pulled the third ball of the innings away for a six, Mumbai switched tactics. A plethora of slower deliveries away from his hitting arc ensured Mumbai nullified the threat of Chris Gayle. An off-cutter by Lasith Malinga eventually brought about Gayle’s downfall as he edged an attempted heave. Mumbai celebrated their success, but that would turn out to be short-lived.

AB de Villiers joined Virat Kohli in the middle. The duo initially took their time to get an eye in. The powerplay score was nothing to write home about, at 39/1. The gears switched when de Villiers recognized the need to give the innings a jolt from its drowsiness. He targeted Harbhajan Singh in the eighth over and the last two balls went for 10 runs. By the end of the next over, the fifty partnership had come up, de Villiers dispatching two more boundaries in the over. Kohli was not to be left behind too far, as he cleared the ropes twice on either side of the halfway mark of the innings. 

The Kohli-ABD partnership of 215 virtually batted Mumbai out of the game

The run rate which was hovering around 7.5 an over after 7 overs had now jumped beyond 9 after 12 overs. The Virat-AB masterclass kept on going, as it first silenced the Wankhede. By the end of 16 overs, the run rate had rocketed to 10 an over. The sucker punch, however, came when Mumbai turned to Bumrah to apply brakes to the Mumbai innings. De Villiers came well out on top in the battle; the first ball of the over racing to the cover fence. De Villiers walked across his stumps and deposited a full toss over fine leg for a six. He went down on one knee again and this time targeted the mid-wicket boundary and cleared it to bring up his century. The silenced Wankhede had found a voice again, not in Mumbai’s dominance, but in appreciation of the genius of AB De Villiers.

The relentless attack by AB De Villiers overshadowed Kohli, who was going all guns blazing himself at the other end. There was no respite for Mumbai bowlers as whoever came on to bowl suffered the same fate. RCB ended with a mammoth 235/1. The Kohli-de Villiers stand remained unbeaten on 215. De Villiers had scored 133 off 59 deliveries, a knock which will be etched in IPL history as one of the best ever batting displays one could wish to witness.

The biggest challenge while chasing a total requiring a team to go at 10 an over is to keep up with the required rate. A few sub-par overs can apply intense pressure on the batting unit. Mumbai needed a quick start, but their innings never really got any momentum in the powerplay. Mumbai were trudging along at around 8 runs per over in pursuit of the target when Rohit Sharma was dismissed. Kieron Pollard was promoted to number 4, with Mumbai now needing 173 runs off 12 overs. The West Indian duo of Pollard and Lendl Simmons threatened to do some damage, but when Pollard eventually fell for 49, there hardly was any life left in the game. Mumbai kept attacking the RCB bowling, but they never really got back in the game. RCB won the game by 39 runs. The victory was massive considering RCB needed to win at a difficult venue to stay afloat in the tournament.