IPL 2020 | RCB vs MI: Today I Learnt- Ishan 'madman' Kishan, AB 'freak' de Villiers and MI's death woes

ByHarshit Anand, SportsCafe Editor

09/28/2020

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With a mountain-esque 90 needed off final 30 deliveries, MI made 89 as the epic clash between MI and RCB ended in a tie with RCB winning the game in super over. Virat Kohli's men had set a big target of 202 runs but Kishan's 99 and Pollard's 60* ensured that Mumbai drew level with RCB's score.

Finch can also fire in IPL

There is a daylight difference between a diffident Aaron Finch, who has played for eight franchises in the IPL and the bull-esque performer, who torments the bowlers in T20 internationals. With an average of 26.26 and a strike-rate of 129.70, leading up to this game, Finch had a lot to prove especially after not being able to match the hype coming into the 13th edition of the IPL, on back of some phenomenal exploits in England limited-overs series. After finding difficult to find his feet early on, Finch came out all guns blazing as he hit an audacious six straight off Trent Boult in the third over, he followed it up with a smashing pull off James Pattinson and then took Rahul Chahar to cleaners with a hat-trick of boundaries, finally looking like a man on path of redemption, who no longer desired to be a passenger in the lucrative league. Finch's 40 runs in the powerplay overs were his best ever in the IPL history, surpassing his previous best of 37 having first played in the lucrative league as early as 2010 as RCB ended on 59 in first six overs. The Aussie white-ball captain finished with a 35-ball-52 and this knock, it should give him a lot of confidence to crack the recipe of success in IPL.

Get the freaking AB genius de Villiers in your team, South Africa

Jasprit Bumrah is the best death bowler in the world with some pretty extraordinary skills that are as diverse and come off as often as Steven Smith's geniuses in the Test format. But AB freaking de Villiers, unlike others, who play out the prodigal talent, decided to show the world how it's done against a genius like him. ABDv smashed him for three sixes and two fours in his last two overs. In the 19th over, the South African great smashed him into the second tier to bring up a rapid fifty off merely 23 balls. De Villiers added 62 runs with youngster Paddikal after RCB received a body blow losing Virat Kohli cheaply in the 13th over and then went into complete beast mode alongside Shivam Dube, adding 47 runs in space of 17 deliveries to help the Bangalore-based franchise to 201 runs. The 36-year-old ended with a strike-rate of 229.17. In last three innings versus MI at death (16-20 overs), AB de Villiers has smacked 108 runs off 42 balls at a strike-rate of 257.14. Jeez with two T20 World Cups coming in the next two years, South Africa, better get Mr.360 on board before he changes his mind.

Mumbai Indians' death bowling woes

Coming to the 2020 IPL, Mumbai Indians' death bowling was hailed as the best with arguably the finest white-ball bowler in the last few overs- Jasprit Bumrah and the experienced due of Trent Boult and James Pattinson. But tonight was a day that they would rather want to forget. Mumbai Indians leaked 78 runs in the final five overs and mind you, it was no Sharjah with smaller boundaries though it was carnage from RCB in Dubai. Bumrah conceded as many as 35 runs in his final two overs while Shivam Dube fired on all cylinders to leave Pattinson reeling as he pocketed 20 runs with three maximums off the final over. Bumrah, known as one of the finest exponents of yorkers in international cricket, hardly tried nailing yorkers, which was hard to understand. By no means, it was a pitch where even RCB would have fancied a total in excess of 200 runs that too against MI, but some marvelous batting from ABDv and Dube and not-so-expected death bowling from the Men in Blue, it turned into reality. That's not how you roll defending champions.

Where was Mumbai hiding Ishan Kishan?

When Mumbai Indians fielded Saurabh Tiwary in the XI, more than his fitness, what surprised me was the omission of prodigal Ishan Kishan. The former India U-19 captain and one of the most talented wicket-keeper batsmen in the country is known for his wondrous striking against spinners, so him making to the XI in UAE conditions seemed a no-brainer. But finally after two games, Rohit picked Kishan in the XI after an injury to Tiwary and he made sure that now MI management will think twice before dropping him. The southpaw played the T20 knock of his life and waged a lone battle till Kieron Pollard came to the crease. He took a special liking to the slog hit and used all his might to hit as many as nine sixes. The 22-year-old ended with an incredible 58-ball-99-run knock and alongside Pollard gave chills to RCB skipper Kohli as the Men in Blue tied the game from the jaws of defeat. After averaging 16.83 last year, Kishan has shown that he is ready to take the big stage by storm this time around and has set the IPL ablaze with his mind-boggling knock.