Jasprit Bumrah took five wickets to wreck Royal Challengers Bengaluru innings before two sharp fifties by Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav sealed an easy seven wicket win for Mumbai Indians in the IPL on Thursday.
Jasprit Bumrah’s masterful 5-21 won him the Player-of-the-Match award and restricted the star-studded RCB line up to 196 for eight in 20 overs.
Mumbai openers Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma set up the chase with a century partnership before Kishan, who hit five sixes in his 34-ball 69, fell in the ninth over with the team at 1-101.
Sharma, who scored a steady 24-ball 38, built another partnership with Suryakumar Yadav, who hit a 19-ball 52.
Sharma was removed by Jacks with Mumbai at 2-139. But Yadav’s blitz propelled the home team to 176 in the 14th over before rookie Vyashk took his scalp.
Pandya and young Tilak Verma finished the job for the home team in the 16th over.
Mumbai’s skipper said that he was “blessed to have Bumrah” in his side.
“I am blessed to have Bumrah in my side. He does it over and over again,” said Pandya. “He practices a lot. The amount of experience and confidence he has is tremendous. Whatever the situation requires – last game I had to take some time, and this game’s scenario was different.”
“Always good to win. The way we have won – it is quite impressive. The impact player has given the opportunity to use an extra bowler if we require. It gives me a cushion as well.
“The way Ro (Rohit) and (Ishan) Kishan batted, giving the platform, it was important for us to finish it early. We did not speak about it. That is the beauty of this team, players know what to do,” he added.
This is the first five-wicket haul against RCB in the history of IPL Bumrah also joined the elite company of bowlers with two five-wicket hauls in IPL- James Faulkner, Jaydev Unadkat and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
NBumrah has overtaken Ravindra Jadeja and Sandeep Sharma (26 scalps each) to become the bowler with the most wickets against RCB. He now has 29 wickets against RCB.
He has also overtaken Harbhajan Singh to break into the top 10 wicket-takers in the league’s history. In 125 matches, he has 155 wickets at an average of 22.56, with a strike rate of 18.46. His best bowling figures are 5/10. Harbhajan meanwhile has 150 wickets in 163 matches.
In the ongoing IPL 2024, Bumrah is now the Purple Cap holder with 10 wickets in five matches at an average of 11.90, with the best figures of 5/21.
Speaking after the game, Bumrah said that the T20 format “is very harsh for the bowlers”.
“I try to not be a one-trick pony, I have worked on this early in my career. People start to line you up. I want to have different skills.”
He added: “I will never say I wanted to take a five-for. The wicket was sticky and I am very happy with my contribution.”
Bumrah removed his fellow Indian superstar Virat Kohli (3) before rookie pacer Akash Madhwal took England’s Will Jacks’s (8) wicket in the fourth over to leave RCB reeling at 2-23.
RCB skipper Faf du Plessis rebuilt the innings on a placid Mumbai track with young Rajat Patidar, who hit an impressive 26-ball 50 with four sixes and three fours.
South African pacer Gerald Coetzee took Patidar’s wicket and Australian superstar Glenn Maxwell (0) failed again to leave RCB in trouble 4-108 in the 13th over.
Skipper Plessis fell to Bumrah, who returned to demolish the RCB middle-order, for 40-ball 61. Bumrah also removed Mahipal Lomoror (0) on the very next ball to leave the visitors at 6-153 in the 17th over.
End of innings heroics by veteran Dinesh Karthik, who hit an unbeaten 23-ball 53, took RCB to 196-8 as Bumrah took two more scalps of rookies Saurav Chauhan and Vijaykumar Vyashk to finish his match-defining spell.
Brief scores
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 196 – for8 wickets
Mumbai Indians: 199 – for3 wickets
Mumbai Indians win by 7 wickets