MUMBAI, India (AP) — Suryakumar Yadav scored 83 runs off 35 balls as Mumbai Indians beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets to enter the top four spots in the Indian Premier League.
Yadav’s 83 was his IPL best and included seven fours and six sixes as Mumbai chased down Bangalore’s 199-6 with ease. It finished with 200-4 and entered the top four for the first time this season.
Mumbai chased 200-plus for the third time this year, the most in any one IPL season, and is now third with 12 points in 11 games, leapfrogging Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals.
Bangalore started in haphazard fashion. Faf du Plessis was dropped on nought off Jason Behrendorff and then Virat Kohli (1) was caught behind off the very next ball. Du Plessis made it count, though, and went on to score 65 off 41 balls.
Behrendorff (3-36) got his second when Anuj Rawat was out caught at short third man but Glenn Maxwell didn’t let Mumbai dictate terms. He smacked 68 runs off only 33 balls, hitting eight fours and four sixes.
Du Plessis and Maxwell put on 120 off 62 balls for the third wicket and Bangalore seemed to be running away with the game, before Behrendorff provided the breakthrough again.
Maxwell was out caught, and as has been the case this season, Bangalore’s middle order lost steam again.
It lost three wickets in the space of 11 deliveries, including that of Mahipal Lomror (1) and du Plessis, as the scorecard went from 136-3 to 146-5.
Dinesh Karthik scored 30 off 18 balls, while Kedar Jadhav and Wanindu Hasranga contributed 12 runs each, but Bangalore only managed a sub-par score on a batting beauty at the Wankhede.
In reply, Mumbai sped off thanks to Ishan Kishan’s 42 off 21 balls. He smacked four fours and four sixes, putting on 51 off 28 balls for the first wicket with Rohit Sharma, who only contributed seven runs.
Both openers fell to Hasranga’s wrist spin. Kishan was caught behind, while Sharma was out lbw on DRS review, a surprising yet marginal call as the ball seemed to hit the leg stump.
Yadav then took center stage and found an able partner in 22-year-old Nehal Wadhera. The duo added 140 off 66 balls for the third wicket, taking the game away from Bangalore.
Wadhera, who had notched up his maiden IPL half-century against Chennai Super Kings in the previous game, contributed a second fifty to Mumbai’s cause. He scored 52 not out off 34 balls, including four fours and three sixes, making amends for dropping du Plessis in the first over.
But the night belonged to Yadav who reached 50 off 26 balls. His 100-run partnership with Wadhera came off 53 balls.
After reaching 50, Yadav hit four more sixes to score 33 off just eight more deliveries before being caught at deep square leg. His previous best was 82 off 40 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2021.
Tim David fell for a first ball duck thereafter, but Wadhera made sure Mumbai crossed the finish line with 21 balls to spare, the highest margin in a 200-plus run-chase in IPL history.
Bangalore slipped to seventh in the table, on 10 points but behind Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders on net run-rate.
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