Match Report: RCB vs MI "The defending champions face second consecutive defeat"

The Royal Challengers secured their second win of the IPL as they beat a hapless Mumbai after a small scare. This was the second consecutive loss for the Mumbai franchisee who are also the defending champions.

It was a clash of the two heavyweights who had come with contrasting fortunes into the match. Bangalore were riding a high after beating Delhi comfortably in their opening game, while Mumbai were looking to regroup after the mauling they received at the hands of the Knight Riders.

Mumbai started slowly on a difficult pitch and the Bangalore bowlers kept a tight lease from the start. Aditya Tare and Michael Hussey found the going tough against the quick bowlers and fell after a slow start. There were two more quick wickets with Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard following soon after, to the loopy leg spin of the vastly impressive Yuzvendra Chahal. Mumbai had lost the spine of their batting line-up halfway through the innings. Rayudu and Anderson tried their best to revive the innings and took the score past the 100 mark, but the innings never took off and Mumbai lost some quick wickets at the end to finish at 115. Rayudu was the pick of the batsmen scoring 35 of 37 balls.

Bangalore dint have the best of starts either and were in early trouble after losing three quick wickets, that of Nic Maddinson, Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli. The captain Kohli specially has been so terrific in chases recently that his dismissal always comes as a surprise these days. However, Parthiv and AB De Villiers batted sensibly thereafter and made sure the team did not suffer any more casualties. Parthiv was the more aggressive of the two but the South African’s calming influence was clearly visible. The two made sure the target was achieved without further trouble and sent Mumbai hurtling towards their second defeat.

Bangalore will have Gayle back for the next match and that will be a significant boost to the Mallya owned franchisee, while Mumbai need to rethink their team combination, batting order and strategy or else this could spiral out of control too soon for the last years champions.