Mumbai: The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) vs Mumbai Indians (MI) encounter held on Monday was one of the most fiercely fought match in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The contest was tied after 40 overs and led to the second Super Over of the season which RCB managed to win on the last ball.
Source: RVCJ media
Certain key points noted during this match.
Jasprit Bumrah's not so impressive comeback after the injury:
Jasprit Bumrah since his return from injury has been pretty ordinary across formats, Only 18 scalps in the 20 innings he has bowled in this particular span is a worrying factor.
These numbers are far from his career numbers, the drought of wickets for Bumrah and the disparity in his lengths is a big concern especially when the World T20 is in sights.
Two of the three games Mumbai played in this year's IPL Bumrah went for plenty. And with Lasith Malinga missing out on this year's IPL Bumrah would be the lead bowler. His performances are hampering Mumbai's chances of getting through to the play offs.
Four times in his T20 career, Jasprit Bumrah has defended lower totals in the Super Over but this was the first time he failed to do so against a team which tends to crumble under pressure.
Washington Sundar's spell:
Washington Sundar's figures of 4 overs 12 runs and a wicket up front, in a game where 400+ runs were scored was just a remarkable performance by the off spinner. However, it was spinner Washington Sundar’s parsimonious display of spin bowling that stood out for its simplicity.
Ishan Kishan's heroics:
Ishan Kishan deserved a hundred for sure, But his 99 would surely up the heat for the likes of KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant. Selectors will have a headache. A team needs five off two balls. At the crease is a man who has only come into the playing XI because of an injury to the batsman who usually occupies the spot; he is one run away from a maiden Indian Premier League century, a few runs away from completing a breathless chase. Ishan Kishan would emerge a better cricketer from this particular knock, maybe a career changing one.
With this, Kishan entered a unique club of batsmen who got dismissed for 99 in IPL history. Before Kishan, only Virat Kohli and Prithvi Shaw had the distinctive record, and hence, Kishan became the third batsman.
Virat Kohli's struggle for runs:
Virat Kohli’s performances in the last 8 IPL matches has been pretty ordinary. These 7 innings were followed by just 3 against Mumbai.
Infact Virat Kohli's numbers when IPL is held in UAE are not impressive as well. In the 7 innings he played prior to the Mumbai game he averaged mere 20 with no scores of 50 or above. Kohli's scoring rate in UAE is another major factor for the struggles of run scoring. His strike rate UAE is 111.11 which surely doesn't match the T20 standards anywhere in the World.
A notable thing with Virat Kohli's performances in the Indian Premiere League is the runs he score, But these performances take a major hit when the tournament is held away from Indian pitches. Be it 2009 IPL in South Africa or the 2014(5 games) and 2020 IPL in UAE, Kohli's run scoring took a mjor set back. The conversion rate itself suggest how difficult the right handed batsman found the particular conditions outside India, with just one fifty plus score in 21 innings in South Africa and UAE combined.
RCB bowling vows at the death:
A total of 138 runs were conceded in the last 10 overs by RCB in the Mumbai game. Their death bowling look miserable except Saini. The same old clueless captaincy by Virat where the batsman smashed and Kohli as a captain were out of sorts.
Barring Navdeep Saini no RCB bowler looked to be in control during the Mumbai clash. He is an over by over graph of the runs conceded by RCB in the last 10 overs.
Though RCB won the super-over, but they have a lot of boxes to be ticked in the upcoming matches, If their bowling concedes 138 in last 10 overs at Dubai's big ground, playing at Sharjah would be worse.
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