Bumrah takes five-for but RCB fight back to post 196/8 in IPL

Bumrah takes five-for but RCB fight back to post 196/8 in IPL

Mumbai, Apr 11 (PTI) Jasprit Bumrah weaved his magic enroute to a five-wicket haul before Dinesh Karthik played a blinder in the death overs to take Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a challenging 196/8 against Mumbai Indians in the IPL here on Thursday.

Faf du Plessis (61) and Rajat Patidar (50) also played an important role in ensuring RCB get close to the 200-run mark. Karthik (53 not out off 23 balls) produced just the kind of knock RCB needed towards the end of the innings.

In a contest where his fellow pacers erred consistently, Bumrah’s accuracy and mastery over variation helped him rule the roost once again.

Mixing up his fiery yorkers perfectly with sharp bouncers, Bumrah snaffled the in-form Virat Kohli (3) early on to extend his ordinary run at the Wankhede Stadium while playing the IPL.

Du Plessis and Patidar banished their poor run with their respective half-centuries while putting on 82 runs for the third wicket, but Bumrah, who bowled three overs post the halfway mark, seemed to have broken the back of RCB’s resistance with a terrific spell.

But Karthik, who took a liking for Akash Madhwal (1/57) to collect 38 runs off his two overs, finished with five fours and four sixes.

Kohli perished in Bumrah’s first over when he got an inside edge off a wild swipe with Ishan Kishan taking a fine diving catch.

Will Jacks (8) began promisingly on debut but played one straight to Tim David at mid-on off Madhwal as RCB slipped early on but du Plessis took them to 44/2 in the powerplay.

A little tentative at start, Patidar grew in confidence for his first fifty of the season.

Patidar also had the bragging rights of playing the shot of the innings when he picked the length of a Pandya delivery early to send the ball flying into the second tier, wide of long-on.

He did not relent when Gerald Coetzee (1/42) came on for his second over, hitting the Proteas bowler for two consecutive sixes but fell immediately after.

Glenn Maxwell’s (0) role was crucial since RCB needed the Australian to go big in their bid to get a big total, but he became Shreyas Gopal’s (1/32) 50th IPL victim, pinned leg-before while playing across the line.

Du Plessis continued to farm the strike and eventually brought up his first fifty of the season, but he too perished when the push came to shove in the death overs.