Abu Dhabi: In the battle for the number one position, Royal Challengers Bangalore have post 164 for 6 in 20 overs against Mumbai Indians here at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Wednesday.
Asked to bat first, RCB got off to a brilliant start from their opening batsmen Devdutt Padikkal and Josh Phillippe. The duo added 71 runs for the first wicket in eight overs. Wicket-keeper batsman Phillippe, who was playing his first match today, scored 33 off 24 balls. But it was Padikkal who did the real firework by smashing 74 off 45 balls. Against a bowling attack which featured Trent Boult, James Pattinson and Jasprit Bumrah, Padikkal hit 12 fours and a six to decorate his quickfire knock.
Phillippe was dismissed by Rahul Chahar in the eighth over.
After his departure, MI bowlers have made inroads through RCB batting line-up and made the recovery that they were looking for. RCB failed to capitalise on the good start provided by Phillippe and Padikkal as Bumrah dismissed Kohli in the 12th over and Kieron Pollard sent back AB de Villiers in the 14th over.
Dismissals of their two key batsmen left RCB in deep trouble from where they could never recover.
Padikkal's destructive knock has come to end in the 17th over when he tried to up the ante off Bumrah's bowling. Padikkal flicked straight down the throat of Boult at fine leg and Boult took an easy catch. With his dismissal, a fine innings came to end.
As the top order and middle order failed, RCB could not live up to the expectation as they were restricted to 164 for 6 by Mumbai Indians bowlers. Shivam Dube, who was playing his ninth match in IPL 2020, got out for two, while Morris could score just four. He was sent back to the dugout by Bumrah, who claimed three wickets today in the expense of 14 runs in four overs. With this wicket, Bumrah reached 20 wickets tally in this season of IPL.
