Vinay Kumar kept his nerve to bowl a superb final over to take the Royal Challengers Bangalore to a sensational two-run win over the Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League clash in Bangalore on Thursday.
With Mumbai needing just ten off the final over, and Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik in full cry, Kumar dismissed both with successive deliveries.
Still, the dangerous Kieran Pollard needed eight off the last two balls. The first of these, a full toss, fell just millimetres short of the boundary. He had to hit another boundary off the final ball, but could do no better than push it to long on.
Chasing a target of 157, legends Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar got their team off to a solid start with a partnership of 52 before Tendulkar was run out by a whisker.
Ponting went soon afterwards, stumped off Murali Kartik, and then Rohit Sharma played across the line to be bowled by Kumar.
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Karthik and Rayudu then put together a stand of 60. Mumbai needed 62 off the final five overs, but Karthik lashed out with three successive sixes as Daniel Christian’s final over went for 24.
Karthik finished with 60 off 37 balls, including three fours and four sixes.
Kumar ended with 3-27 while Kartik and Jaydev Unadkat were economical.
Earlier, Chris Gayle played a solo role in scoring 92 off 58 balls with 11 fours and five sixes. Virat Kohli played some shots early on, and Mumbai’s attack impressed after Ponting had won the toss and chosen to field first..
Mitchell Johnson took 1-15 in three overs and Harbhajan Singh 1-21, but the most impressive figures came from debutant Jasprit Bumrah. Despite taking some tap from Kohli in his first over, he dismissed the skipper and finished with 3-32.
Chris Gayle took the Man of the Match award for his solid innings. He had some adversity to deal with, scoring slowly at the start and having to bat through the pain of a damaged hamstring.
