Mumbai bowlers restrict RCB to 142/5 in IPL tie

Bengaluru, April 14 (IANS) Faced with Mumbai Indians' disciplined bowling, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were restricted to 142/5 in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match here on Friday.

Though Mumbai Indians played without their experienced pacer Lasith Malinga, their other bowlers bowled to their potential as Bangalore wasted a solid start given by skipper Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers. The RCB thus got wrapped up under 150-run mark.

For Mumbai, McClenaghan scalped two wickets for 20 runs in four overs while Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya chipped in with one wicket each.

Overall, Mumbai have an 11-8 winning record against RCB, and at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here Mumbai have won six of seven games against the hosts. So, it would be interesting to see how Mumbai will chase this total.

Kohli, who was injured during the third Test match against Australia, made his comeback in style as he scored 62 runs, which comprised of five boundaries and two sixes.

The 28-year-old came out to bat with West Indian swashbucking batsman Chris Gayle (22) and forged a 63-run partnership in 10 overs to give the RCB a perfect start.

But when the duo started shifting gears, Gayle, who blasted one six and two boundaries, fell to medium-pacer Hardik Pandya.

A head-height short bowl did the trick for Mumbai as Gayle was caught by wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel when he tried to pull the ball.

Incoming batsman AB de Villiers (19) and Kohli then continued to punish the bowlers with some great show around the park.

In the process, Kohli reached his fifty with a huge six.

But soon, Kohli was dismissed by pacer Mitchell McClenaghan. The skipper had added 47 runs for the second wicket with de Villiers.

After five more runs with new batsman Kedar Jadhav (9), de Villiers too fell, sent packing by spinner Krunal Pandya in the 17th over.

Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma pulled of a one-handed stunner to dismiss the South African power-hitter.

The middle-order once again failed as two crucial batsmen Kedar Jadhav and Mandeep Singh (0) were dismissed back to back, leaving Bangalore tottering at 127/5 in 18.1 overs.

Pawan Negi, who has not proved his worth till yet in the cash-rich league, once again did not rise up to the occasion as he scored 13 runs in 13 balls. His partner Stuart Binny scored six runs.