In IPL 2024 match 25, the Mumbai Indians performed at their peak on Thursday at the Wankhede Stadium. What was supposed to be a fierce match between the two teams, Bengaluru versus Royal Challengers, turned out to be one-sided as the home team won by a comfortable seven wickets. Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav humiliated RCB’s bowling after Jasprit Bumrah dominated the game with the ball for the majority of it. This was the team’s second victory of the year.
Virat Kohli failed to get going while he was batting first, giving the visiting team a blow when Bumrah took his wicket. Faf du Plessis, though, persevered as the captain scored 61 runs off of 40 deliveries. Will Jacks, making his debut, did not live up to the hype, while Rajat Patidar, who scored 50 runs off of 26 deliveries, seemed back to form. Dinesh Karthik performed admirably towards the end of the innings, scoring 53 runs off of 23 deliveries to assist RCB in scoring 196 runs.
Meanwhile, MI’s standout performance in the opening innings came from Bumrah, who took five wickets. In the chase, Rohit Sharma and Kishan put on a merciless show as they put up a 101-run partnership. Rohit scored 38 runs off of 24 deliveries, while Kishan scored 69 off of 34. Suryakumar, batting at number three, stole the show with his incredible strokework. The 33-year-old scored 52 runs off of 19 deliveries, and Hardik Pandya completed the scoring with 21 runs off of six deliveries near the end.
Also read: IPL 2024 Qualifications: How will Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who lost to MI in Match 25, make it to the Playoffs?
Talking Points
1. Bumrah clinical is too good for RCB
For du Plessis & Co., Bumrah proved to be too hot to handle. The top pacer took five wickets in four overs and conceded just 21 runs in a match where the other bowlers were hammered. It’s hard to dispute with RCB captain Faf du Plessis’s later statement that Bumrah was the real difference between the two innings. His form ahead of the T20 World Cup bodes very well for the Indian team.
2. Dinesh Karthik hammering on the door of the selectors
In the IPL 2024, Dinesh Karthik has shown remarkable ability to complete games. The Chennai native has been performing at the highest level in an attempt to guarantee the wicketkeeper’s spot for the T20 World Cup. Against Mumbai, the seasoned batter hammered another half-century, compelling the selectors to keep a watch on him.
3. Mumbai batters receive a 10/10.
Mumbai’s batsmen demonstrated the correct attitude from the start, which is why they finished the game with 27 balls remaining. Kishan and Rohit set the tone brilliantly, and Suryakumar and Hardik followed suit with serious business. The club should have the necessary momentum after this victory to return to the top four in the league standings.
The losing skipper, Faf du Plessis, said:
It’s a tough pill to swallow – combination of two things, very wet (the conditions with dew), I need to somehow win some tosses, secondly, they played really well, put the pressure on us and we made a lot of mistakes (especially during the powerplay). We knew dew would be a factor, we might have needed to make 250+, but they made 196 look very less. You know when there’s dew coming, you’ll have to bat big, the ball was very wet, it was changed a few times and the bowlers struggled. We also lost a few moments and were going well when myself and Patidar were going, but they did come back well.
Everytime you see him with the ball in his hand (on Jasprit Bumrah), you think you’ll have to put him under pressure. But he has so many skills, bowls well under pressure, he bowls with the same action and has a lot of variations. I think he has become even better under the guidance of Lasith Malinga. We would have loved if he was part of our team (smiles).
We will have to find ways with the bat, get those big scores, we know our bowling is not our strongest suit, but we’ll have to find ways to manage it, we’ll have to be creative, go hard with the bat and make most of the first 4-5 overs with the bat.
Winning skipper Hardik Pandya said:
Always good to win. The way we have won – it’s quite impressive. Impact player has given the opportunity to use an extra bowler if we require. It gives me a cushion as well. The way Ro and Kishan batted, giving the platform, it was important for us to finish it early. We didn’t speak about it. That’s the beauty of this team, players know what to do. Blessed to have Bumrah in my side.
He does it over and over again. He practices a lot. The amount of experience and confidence he has is tremendous. I did tell him when he scored the fifty that welcome back. I’ve been opposition captain as well against him, it’s tough to put field for him. Whatever the situation requires – last game I had to take some time, and this game’s scenario was different.
POTM Jasprit Bumrah said:
I’m very happy with the outcome. But I will not say I had always thought of taking a five-for. Wicket was sticking in the first 10 overs. One of those days where things went in my favour and catches went to hand. In this format, it’s anyway very harsh on the bowlers so you need to have different skills. Can’t be a one-trick pony. Everyone is doing research and data. Have trained to have different skills.
Bowling is tough because you will have to take a beating, you will have to have bad days to learn from it. whenever I’ve had bad days, I’ve watched vidoes the next day to see what didn’t work, why it didn’t work. You bowl to batters in the nets who hit big sixes, find out how you react to pressure. And when you’re in the middle facing same pressure, you’ll have answers. I do my research and see where the batter is strong. You don’t need to use all tricks on one day.
India
