For the second time on Sunday in the Indian T20 Cricket League 2022, an uncapped Indian batsman at the top of the order starred with a crucial half-century to play a decisive role in his team’s victory.
After Hyderabad’s Abhishek Sharma took the game away from Chennai and helped his side record their first win in the tournament, it was the turn of Bangalore wicketkeeper-batsman Anuj Rawat, who scored a brilliant 66 against a struggling Mumbai outfit to hand them their fourth consecutive defeat in the 15th edition of the tournament.
The half-century from Rawat was not the only bright spot for Bangalore who recorded their 3rd victory from 4 matches to mark an outstanding start to the series, which was set up by their bowlers Wanindu Hasaranga and Harshal Patel earlier in the first innings.
The Sri Lankan Hasaranga returned with numbers of 4-0-28-2, dismissing the dangerous Dewald Brevis (8) and Kieron Pollard (0) – both batsmen out leg-before wicket.
On the other hand, the Indian star T20 cricketer Harshal Patel dismissed India captain R Sharma for a 15-ball 26 and also removed Ramandeep Singh, who was playing his first match of the season, to return with 4-0-23-2.
Mumbai suffered a stunning batting collapse after their dangerous opening pair of captain R Sharma and Ishan Kishan added 50 runs to provide them with a rollicking start.
The five-time title winners lost a stunning 6 wickets for 29 runs to be left reeling at 79/6 from 13.2 overs, before their middle-order batsman Suryakumar Yadav took charge of the situation and guided them to a respectable 151/6.
Suryakumar Yadav top scored from either side with a brilliant 68 not out from only 37 balls, clobbering 6 sixes and 5 boundaries in the process to help Mumbai walk away with total which was indeed competitive — one that they would not have felt confident enough with — after the thrashing received by Kolkata’s Pat Cummins at this ground in Pune.
Mumbai were guilty of not batting responsibly enough in a crucial clash against Bangalore, a team which has been making the right moves more often than not this season.
Mumbai needed their captain R Sharma to fire at the top after a string of poor performances, but the right-handed batsmen perished after getting a start, giving a return catch to Harshal Patel in the 7th over of the contest.
The dismissal of R Sharma opened the floodgates for Mumbai , who soon lost far too many wickets in quick succession to even arrest the slide, which they were eventually able to do via Suryakumar Yadav and veteran Indian cricketer Jaydev Unadkat.
Playing his first match of the season, Jaydev Unadkat showed his expertise and maturity as a player to hang around long enough for Suryakumar Yadav to get the crucial runs for his side. Suryakumar Yadav and Unadkat finished with an unbeaten 72-run stand for the 7th wicket, in which Yadav did the majority of the scoring.
Courtesy Suryakumar Yadav's 68 not out, Mumbai are able to post a total which was respectable enough for any side, but not safe against a team like Bangalore which has shown great promise of clinching favourable results in such situations.
Bangalore started off with a 50-run stand for the first wicket between Faf du Plessis and Anuj Rawat, following which they were served well by a match-defining 80-run association for the second wicket between Rawat and former captain V Kohlii.
Rawat top scored for his side with a fluent 66, which came from 47 balls and included 2 boundaries as well as 6 sixes. While du Plessis failed to convert his start — perishing for 16 from 24 balls with the help of 1 boundary and – Kohli got his eye in and took himself near to his maiden half-century this season.
Kohli was dismissed by the young South African Brevis, who trapped the former Bangalore and India captain in front of the wickets for a 36-ball 48, which included 5 boundaries.
Rawat was run out by Ramandeep Singh which meant that the pair of Dinesh Karthik (7*) and Glenn Maxwell (8*) had to finish the job for their side. In his maiden appearance of the season, Maxwell started off with a bang, hitting 2 boundaries off the first 2 balls that he faced to seal the deal in favour of his team.
With the campaign suffering plenty of jolts at the start for Mumbai, they will hope for revival with a strong comeback against Punjab on April 13 whereas Bangalore will be next seen in action against a struggling Chennai side, who have also lost all four matches so far in the Indian T20 Cricket League 2022 tournament.
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
Read All Articles >
