Suryakumar’s IPL-best 83 Off 35 thrashes RCB
A career-best performance in the IPL from Suryakumar Yadav floored Royal Challengers Bangalore as Mumbai Indians picked up a huge win to jump to the third spot on Tuesday (May 9). Chasing 200, MI went on a rampage right from the start with Ishan Kishan providing the platform. After his departure, Suryakumar and Nehal Wadhera took charge and added 140 for the third wicket to stun the away side.
Both teams had a very similar start to their innings in the powerplay. RCB were handed a blow in the very first over when Virat Kohli got an edge through to the keeper when he tried to take on Jason Behrendorff and Anuj Rawat mistimed one to depart early as well. However, those two wickets didn’t deter the away side as Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell, in particular, went absolutely berserk. The two batters wanted to ensure they maximize the powerplay and even the introduction of Piyush Chawla didn’t stop the rampage.
MI on the other hand went crazy in the run chase with Ishan Kishan delivering the goods. The under-fire Rohit Sharma stepped down the track first ball to hammer a boundary but it was Ishan who hogged the limelight. He took on Josh Hazlewood and Mohammed Siraj and struck some stunning blows that forced du Plessis to bring on Wanindu Hasaranga early. Ishan took on the Sri Lankan spinner too to race to 42 but he had the last laugh by dismissing the opener. RCB turned the tide in the same over as Hasaranga also trapped Rohit lbw to add to his woes. The damage was done though as RCB made 62.
If the two batters resurrected RCB in the powerplay, they stepped on the accelerator further after that. Chris Jordan, playing his first game for MI, was welcomed to the crease by Maxwell with two sixes. The Australian allrounder then walked down the track to Chawla and hammered him over his head before bringing up an incredible 25-ball fifty. At the halfway stage, RCB had 104 on the board and continued to press home the advantage. Du Plessis smashed one wide of mid off and brought up a 30-ball fifty and took on Chawla for another six as RCB raced to 131 in just 12 overs.
MI did very well to pull things back. The pitch did assist the bowlers in the latter half of the innings whenever the bowlers took the pace off the ball and MI used that to good effect. Behrendorff came back and removed Maxwell with a slower ball to end the 120-run stand. Mahipal Lomror and the well-set du Plessis fell soon after leaving the finishing duties to Dinesh Karthik and Kedar Jadhav. While Jadhav did hit his first ball for a boundary, he struggled to get going at the death. Karthik put his poor form behind to come up with a few lusty blows to score a crucial 30 but RCB still made only 68 in the final 8 overs.
It was almost like it never happened. Wadhera pulled his second ball for a six to signal his intentions. Harshal Patel was then taken apart for 11 in his opening over. At the halfway mark the game was still tantalisingly poised at 99/2 as MI still needed 101 from the next 10. However, both Suryakumar and Wadhera flipped the switch pretty quick to put MI on top. Hasaranga conceded a six each to the two batters and Suryakumar converted a good over from Hazlewood to an ordinary over with successive boundaries in the end. The boundaries just kept flowing as du Plessis’ decision to shuffle his bowlers just didn’t work.
While MI staged a very good comeback with the ball in the latter half, no such thing was in store for RCB. The surface didn’t aid them one bit either as Suryakumar put on a show leaving Wadhera stranded in his 40s at the other end for a long time. Bringing up his fifty, Suryakumar hammered Hasaranga for two more sixes and went 6,4,6 off Vyshak Vijayakumar to kill the chase. While the bowler did stop the maverick with just eight runs needed, Suryakumar had done his job by then registering his highest score in the IPL as well in the process. Tim David was out first ball but Wadhera landed the final blow with another six that also helped him register fifties in back-to-back games.
