IPL: Pollard, Rayudu To Mumbai Indians To Victory Over Bangalore

In a bizarre match that featured four consecutive free hits, a football like fight at the end of it, a hit wicket dismissal, mind numbing run outs of two top batsmen, a first ball wicket of Tendulkar, and some brilliant hitting, Mumbai Indians prevailed over Royal Challengers in yet another nail-biter. Amabati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard were the stars for the Indians, getting them a win from a no hope situation.

RCB, after being put in to bat, lost Gayle early. The West Indian did not look his normal self and was bowled by Munaf. Kohli ran, slipped, dived, got run out, and left in a blaze of anger hurling abuses. With Bangalore struggling for runs, Munaf Patel happened. He followed a two consecutive no balls with a wide, and then yet another no ball. To top it all off, he got smashed for a six off the tenth ball of the over, and then started blaming the umpire for his agony, whereas some soul searching would have helped. Sourabh Tiwary looked good in his innings of 21, but trod onto his wicket while attempting a flick. De Villiers and Dilshan could not get the scoreboard moving, even though the latter managed to score 47. Mayank Agarwal who pummeled 64 runs in 30 balls, including 24 runs off Munaf's final over, took the target to 171. He looked at ease right from the start and did not have any problems even against Malinga.

Mumbai had a nightmarish start to their innings when Sachin got dismissed first ball, driving away from his body. Gibbs ran himself out, Rohit and Karthik followed soon after. And when Dwayne Smith got caught, the score read a paltry 51 for 5 in 9 overs. No one would have blamed RCB for thinking that they had the match in their back pocket. However, Rayudu and Pollard had other ideas. After biding their time initially, the two launched into an all out attack on the likes of Appanna, Vinay Kumar and Gayle to get the score within chaseable range. Fourteen were needed off the last over by Gayle. Pollard flicked, edged and then slogged him to get the target with two balls to spare.

The win gets the Indians equal on points with Delhi Daredevils, as the team seems to be able to find the men for the job every time they are down.