Captain Virat Kohli failed to make a mark once again as Royal Challengers Bangalore posted a massive 201/3 against Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Monday, 28 September.
Put in to bat, openers Aaron Finch and Devdutt Padikkal got the team off to a great start. The duo added 81 runs before Trent Boult (2/34) gave Mumbai a breakthrough, removing Finch for 52 (off 35 balls) as Kieron Pollard took a simple catch at long-off.
Kohli joined youngster Padikkal at the crease but managed just a 11-ball 3 before hitting a delivery off Rahul Chahar straight to extra cover, and into his MI counterpart Rohit Sharma’s hands.
The 20-year-old Padikkal carried the innings forward with AB de Villiers and crossed the 50-run mark off 37 deliveries – his second half-century this season after he scored 56 in RCB’s campaign opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The duo stitched a 62-run partnership – which featured four sixes and five boundaries – before Pollard took another catch at the boundary to send Padikkal packing for a 40-ball 54. His knock included five boundaries and two sixes.
De Villiers then picked up the pace of innings and smashed a half-century off 23 balls. From 154/3 in 17.1 overs, the former South African cricketer along with all-rounder Shivam Dube added another 47 runs in the last 17 balls.
ABD remained unbeaten on 55 (off 24 balls) which included four boundaries and four sixes. Dube on the other hand, smashed three sixes in the last over of the innings bowled by pacer James Pattinson and finished with a 10-ball 27.
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