MI edge out RCB in run feast for maiden win

With boundaries as short as 60m and a batting deck to match the quick outfields, a run feast was expected by the Bangalore crowd.Boy, they got one big time, but not the result they would have hoped for.MI finally got off the mark in this IPL season, while the bowling headaches continue for Kohli & Co.

                         MI showed in their last match against CSK that they are gonna bat their way out of trouble.There was no batting collapse at the top and this allowed Mumbai Indians to plunder runs at will against the weak RCB bowling.Lendl Simmons and Unmukt Chand struck half centuries, the latter his first IPL fifty. Chand was the most impressive of the two, as he looked in command all through his innings staying towards the end, assisting Rohit Sharma as MI were pushing for a par 200 score.The MI skipper looked in awesome touch as he hit 42 off just 15 balls.David Wiese picked up 3 wickets in the 19th over and MI looked set to miss the 200 run mark. But debutant H Pandya's two sixes in six malls helped MI post 209. Chahal was once again the pick of the bowlers for RCB while Wiese picked up four wickets. Abu Nechim and Varun Aaron once again leaked runs aplenty and you wonder how giving any other a rookie a chance isn't a better option.

                       A score in excess of 200 normally gives room for comfort, but MI's bowling frailties coupled with the batting strength of RCB, it was going to be tough defending the score at Bangalore. While everybody expected fireworks from Gayle, what we got to witness was the extreme opposite. It was one of the strangest T20 innings you could imagine, considering the circumstances.Gayle got 10 off 24 balls, that too after two dropped chances.The game was really lost then n there, but for some big hitting from AB De Villiers and Wiese, RCB managed to get close to the target.AB's innings was truly remarkable, 41 off just 11 balls. Bumrah, who had bowled four consecutive wides at the start of his spell, got the prize wicket of AB, but it was Harbhajan Singh, playing his 100th IPL match, who bowled with guile to finish with MoM figures of 3/27 in 4 overs.A late onslaught by Wiese and Iqbal Abdulla proved too little too late as MI ended their 4 match losing streak to win by 18 runs.