The Wankhede stadium was witness to yet another high scoring contest. The start of the match, however, was very surprising as Mumbai Indians lost two wickets of the first two balls bowled by Umesh Yadav. The real twist though, unfolded when Rohit Sharma walked into bat at number 3.
A 52 ball 94 by Rohit Sharma coupled with a 42 ball 65 from the hard-hitting West Indian Evin Lewis paved the way for MI to reach 213 after 20 overs, which looked nowhere close to possible after the loss of those early wickets.
The RCB bowlers took a hammering in the process, as almost all of them had an economy of above 10. Umesh Yadav took two wickets and was the most economical out of the lot.
Chasing 214 for victory, RCB had a race against time. Virat Kohli played a lone hand scoring 92 off the 167 scored. The duo of Quin ton De Kock (19) and AB de Villiers (1) failed to fire. Once AB de Villiers was out, the RCB chase was pretty much done and dusted. Till the 20 overs of play, Virat Kohli was at his hitting best as he scored 92. RCB at the end fell short by 46 runs finishing at 167 for 8.
Mumbai finally boarded the IPL bus with a 47 run win under their belt. Rohit Sharma very expectedly was the anchor of this Mumbai win. Though RCB lost the match, the fans saw batting exploits from two of India's best batsmen in the befitting encounter at the Wankhede. The injury to Ishan Kishan was perhaps the only blip in this exciting contest.
Twitter was buzzing at the end of the contest as to how good a contest it was and what level of batsmanship it was from Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Here is the selected best of the lot.
I have absolutely enjoyed this innings from @imVkohli. Quick start, then when wickets went down ensured there wasn't an early end and now seeing that they don't fall too far behind on NRR.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 17, 2018
Mayank Markande—Find of the IPL thus far ???????????? #IPL #MIvRCB
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) April 17, 2018
50 for Mahender Singh Kohli #MIvRCB
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) April 17, 2018
Barring @imVkohli's knock, poor show all round by @RCBTweets. Team unable to jell yet. Meanwhile Mumbai's ship has set sail. Finally!
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 17, 2018
great innings from @imVkohli in a losing cause - he is a run machine!!
— Mike Hussey (@mhussey393) April 17, 2018
Sad but true. It looked like #ViratKohli versus #MumbaiIndians! #MIVRCB #VIVOIPL
— Prragyan Ojha (@pragyanojha) April 17, 2018
RCB simply having no answers today. Fighting innings from Kohli the only saving grace. Clinical performance from @mipaltan . Rohit in the form he was in is a warning bell for all teams. #MIvRCB
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) April 17, 2018
Virat Kohli - The lone warrior stands tall yet again. You gotta feel bad for this man. There has been no method to the way the rest of the RCB batters batted today at the Wankhede. Huge disappointment #MIvRCB
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) April 17, 2018