IPL 2016: Rohit lights up Wankhede as Mumbai get back to winning ways

Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 170/7 in 20 overs (Travis Head 37(24), Virat Kohli 33(30); Jasprit Bumrah 3/31, Krunal Pandya 2/27) lost to Mumbai Indians 171/4 in 18 overs (Rohit Sharma 62(44), Kieron Pollard 40(19); Iqbal Abdulla 3/40, Kane Richardson 1/26)

Chasing a tricky target of 171, Mumbai received an early blow when Parthiv Patel was dismissed by a well-directed short delivery from Kane Richardson. However that early wicket did not tie down Rohit Sharma, who looked in supreme form with the bat the middle.

The Mumbai skipper was well supported by Ambati Rayudu at the other end, as the duo took the attack to the opposition. In the fifth over, Rohit went after Varun Aaron and deposited him into the stands with a majestic front-foot pull shot. He followed that up with a scoop shot over the short fine leg fielder, as Mumbai got the early momentum they were looking for.

Rayudu was not to be left far behind, and the diminutive right hander took on Harshal Patel in the 10th over, and hit him for two back-to-back boundaries. At the half-way mark, Mumbai were cruising along at 81/1.

Iqbal Abdulla dismissed Rayudu in the 11th over, however, that made no difference to Rohit Sharma at the other end. The Indian opener went after Abdulla in his next over and hit him for a massive six over the deep-midwicket fence. In the fifth ball of that over, he spanked one down the long-on boundary with such ferocity that the fielder, who did not have a lot of ground to cover, could do nothing by watching it ratting the hoardings. However, the Rohit-juggernaut was halted by the left-arm spinner in the last ball of the 13th over. The Mumbai skipper got under an Abdulla ball and his shot found long-off, and all of a sudden RCB had a spring in their steps.

However, that slim hope of a comeback was blown away in an instant by Jos Buttler, and then by Kieron Pollard. The Englishman hit Abdulla for two massives sixes in the 16th over, before top edging one to the short thirdman fielder. After his departure, Pollard took center-stage and kncoked off the remaining runs in the blink of an eye. The big West Indian hit three sixes and four boundaries in his innings of 40 runs, from just 19 deliveries, as Mumbai coasted to a 6-wicket win to pile further misery on RCB.

Both teams had come into this game on the back of heavy defeats and earlier in the evening RCB had reacted to their last defeat by making as many as six changes to their starting lineup. Travis Head replaced Chris Gayle, who has travelled back to his home to attend the birth of his child. KL Rahul, Stuart Binny, Kane Richardson, Iqbal Abdulla and Varun Aaron replaced Kedar Jadhav, Parvez Rasool, David Wiese, Yuzvendra Chahal and Sreenath Aravind.

In contrast, Mumbai made just once change to their team with Kieron Pollard coming in for Martin Guptill. Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bowl first with concerns about dew affecting the bowlers in the second innings being highlighted by both the skippers.

The home side went off to a brilliant start in the game with Tim Southee and Mitchell McClenaghan getting the ball to zip around for fun. Southee, in particular, troubled Virat Kohli like few other bowlers have been able to do in recent times.

In the fourth over, KL Rahul took the attack to the opposition as he attempted to break the shackles. He took on McClenaghan and hit him for two consecutive sixes – the first went over the point boundary, while the second was a cheeky ramp shot over the keeper's head. McClenaghan strayed on his pads in the next delivery and it was flicked past the short fine leg fielder for another boundary. The uprising did not last long though, as the Kiwi pacer dismissed him in the next delivery. Rahul edged one to the first slip, in his attempt to play a square cut from a good length delivery.

The wicket brought AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli together on the crease, and the duo took control of the game once again. Kohli and de Villiers, who have already produced two 100+ partnerships in their opening two matches, picked up the run rate and by the end of the 10th over, RCB were 89/1, and looking well on course for another big score.

However, Krunal Pandya turned the match on its head in the 11th over. The left-arm spinner dismissed both Kohli and de Villiers in the same over, sending the crowd into delirium. Kohli holed out at long-off as he tried to clear the boundary, but failed to reach to the pitch of the ball, while de Villiers was beaten in the flight with Parthiv Patel taking off the bails in a flash. The Rs 2 crore price tag on Krunal is looking like bargain with every passing match – what a gem Mumbai have uncovered from Baroda.

That over significantly brought down RCB's scoring rate, and the Banglore-based franchise's fate was left on the young, but talented, shoulders of Sarfaraz Khan and Travis Head. The duo took on McClenaghan in the 19th over and scored 18 runs off him. 22-year-old Travis Head ended up being the top-scorer in a batting lineup which had the likes of Kohli, de Villiers and Watson. In the end, they reached 170 in their 20 overs, and gave their bowlers a chance to make a match out of it.