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It was another clinical performance by the Royal Challengers Bangalore as they defeated the Mumbai Indians in their own backyard by 7 wickets to go top of the points table after 4 games, having won the last three on the trot. RCB were set a modest 152 to win from 20 overs thanks mainly to the efforts of their bowlers who mixed deliveries and made good use of the short ball, especially against the younger local talent. The MI batsmen failed to gather any momentum during their innings losing wickets at regular intervals and there were too many balls not scored off. 151 was never going to be enough and the in-supreme-form Jaques Kallis continued his unbeaten record in IPL 2010 with 66 of 53 balls winning him his 3rd Man of the Match award to make sure the Orange Cap stays firmly on his head.

Mumbai skipper Sachin Tendulkar won the toss much to the delight of the home fans at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, and thrilled the fans even further by chosing to bat first. Mumbai kept faith with the same squad that beat the Delhi Daredevils at the Kotla by a whopping 98 runs 3 days ago. Royal Challengers Bangalore Skipper Anil Kumble was happy to bowl first expecting dew to be a factor later on and also named the same side that beat Rajasthan on Thursday night by 10 wickets in Bengaluru.

It was the biggest game of this season so far with the top 2 teams on the points table battling it out for supremacy. MI had just 2 games under their belt coming into this clash with a 100% win record and RCB having played three games winning their last two.

Tendulkar and Jayasuriya began proceedings for MI in a rather sedate manner with hat-trickster Praveen Kumar getting the ball to swing, aided by an early evening sea breeze. Dale Steyn partnering Kumar, struck with his third delivery, getting the ball to swing off a length into Jayasuriya's pads and Mumbai were 6/1 in 1.3 overs bringing in 22-year old wicket keeper Aditya Tare to bat.

Tendulkar and Tare kept the score board ticking over with quick singles and the skipper finally turned it on as he put Steyn away for three consecutive boundaries on the leg-side in the 4th over prompting Kumble to bring on Jaques Kallis. Tare, inspired by his skipper at the other end, despatched Kallis' first ball for a four which prompted the Orange Cap holder to bang the next one in short and Tare 9 (10) attempting to hook the ball, perished at short midwicket leaving Mumbai at 36/2 in 4.3 overs.

This brought in the strapping lad from Jharkhand, Saurabh Tiwary, who wasted no time in walking down to Vinay Kumar and bludgeoning him through midwicket for his first four. The fifty of the MI innings came up in the 7th over and Tiwary showing little respect, despatched Kallis over mid-off with the ball getting to the fence after a couple of bounces.

Skipper Anil Kumble brought himself on in the 8th over and pegged things back for RCB giving away just 4 runs but not before Tiwary survived a strong leg before appeal. At the end of the 9th over Mumbai were 69/2 with the customary strategic time out being called and Tendulkar and Tiwary looking to up the ante.

It is said something always happens after a break and it did. Kumble drew out Tiwary 25 (21), who was beginning to look dangerous, with a googly that ricocheted off his pads to crash into the stumps. At 71/3 former ICL star Ambati Rayadu joining his skipper in the middle.

What followed was a dramatic collapse as Vinay Kumar accounted for the wickets of Rayadu, Tendulkar and Dwayne Bravo in the 11th over. Rayadu edged a short one to keeper Mark Boucher off the very first delivery and Tendulkar trying to work another one onto the leg side, saw his leg stump disturbed. West Indian Dwayne Bravo lasted all of 2 balls and was adjudged leg before off the last delivery of Kumar's remarkable over. The Indians all of a sudden were 76/6 after 11 overs with their customary score of 200+ when batting first looking a distant dream.

Mumbai's latest and most expensive import, the 6'6" West Indian Kieron Pollard and Tamil Nadu's Rajagopal Sathish were given the task of repairing the innings and insure Mumbai get to atleast 150. They converted the singles into two's by running hard between the wickets and the MI hundred was brought up in the 15th over.

The end of the 2nd strategic time-out was better for MI with Pollard hitting Praveen Kumar for a humongous 6 over long-on and he followed this up with a top edge over Boucher's head for a boundary two deliveries later. But the home crowd, who were just about finding their voice again, were silenced by Steyn who accounted for Pollard 21(19) in the next over, as he went for another big hit only to be pouched by Virat Kohli on the boundary. Harbhajan Singh came in with 17 deliveries left in the innings and R Sathish 24(22) by now had no option but to go for everything. He was the next to perish, attempting to pull a short one which ballooned to midwicket, and Rahul Dravid sticking out his right hand, pulled off a stunner on the second attempt, to give Steyn his third wicket.

Zaheer Khan joined Harbhajan but the latter was accounted for off the very first ball of the final over, attempting to pull another short ball by Praveen which landed in the safe hands of Kallis. It was Zaheer's onslaught in the final 5 deliveries of the innings, with two boundaries and a six, that saw Mumbai finish on a respectable if not unattainable 151/9. It was the highest score by a no.10 batsman in the IPL as he remained not out on 23 from 9 balls.

Orange Cap holder Jaques Kallis, who so far has remained unbeaten in IPL 2010, walked out with Manish Pandey for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, needing to score at 7.55 runs an over. Zaheer made first use of the new ball and gave away just 4 from his first over. "Slinga" Malinga nearly had Kallis in the 2nd over with the ball brushing the fingertips of a leaping Rayadu, who had to leave the field after falling hard on his elbow.

Pandey hit the first and last ball of Zaheer's 2nd over for four and Kallis metted out the same treatment to Malinga, with 3 hits to the fence to take RCB to 28/0 after 4 overs. Dwayne Bravo was brought into the attack and Pandey, getting his right leg out of the way, hoisted him for a six over long-on. This prompted a double change with Pollard being brought on and was hit for three boundaries off the first 3 balls by Kallis, to bring up Bangalore's fifty signalling the third 50 run partnership between these two batsmen in IPL 2010.

The boundaries continued to flow, aided by some sloppy fielding by the Mumbai Indians, as the asking rate continued its steady decline to settle at 6.7 runs per over after 7 overs. Tendulkar took the strategic time-out and brought on a double change in the form of Harbhajan Singh and Sanath Jayasuriya in a bid to slow things down. But the RCB openers, under no pressure whatsoever, knocked the ball around, hitting the odd boundary every now and then, including a six over long-on by Pandey off Harbhajan. Pandey 40 (27) then attempted a slog over mid-wicket, but the tall figure of Pollard was in his way and RCB finally lost their first wicket on 85 after 10 overs, bringing another former MI player, Robin Uthappa, to the crease.

The Bangalore 100 came off the final ball of the 12th over, aided by some innovative shots by Robin including a reverse sweep off Harbhajan to the fence, making it look all too easy for the visitors. The MI bowlers failed to bowl the right length to the RCB batsman and the asking rate was soon a run a ball with 7 overs remaining.

Malinga and Zaheer were brought back by Tendulkar, a last throw of the dice, as Kallis brought up his seventh IPL half century in 43 balls. There was finally some cheer for the MI fans as Zaheer got Uthappa 23 (15) to hook a short one to the mid-wicket boundary and a diving Malinga held on to the catch to bring out Virat Kohli, who last had a bat on the 16th of March against KXIP. He soon joined the Royal Challenger run fest hitting Harbhajan for two consecutive sixes post the strategic time-out. Kohli was run out by a direct throw from Pollard, running in from backward point, with just 16 runs to get from 18 balls bringing the Brabourne stadium back to life. But Kallis made sure the home fans had nothing more to cheer about as he got the visitors to their target of 152 with 5 balls to spare and 7 wickets in hand including his own.

The Mumbai Indians play their next game at home in two days time hosting the Kolkata Knight Riders. It's a game they should win given the Knight Riders are coming off two consecutive losses including the one earlier today to the Rajasthan Royals. But the KKR batting will be strengthened with the return of Chris Gayle and hopefully MI's Rayadu has not done too much damage to his elbow and is fit to play in time.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore take on the Chennai Super Kings in Bengaluru 3 days from now. The Super Kings are just about getting into their stride in the tournament with Matthew Hayden and Suresh Raina shouldering the batting responsibilities in MS Dhoni's absence. With the RCB opening pair enjoying a purple patch of their own, this will be an even contest of the bat with RCB holding the edge in the bowling department.

Mini Scorecard:

Mumbai Indians 151/9 (20 overs)
Tendulkar 25 (22)       Vinay Kumar 3-25
Tiwary 25 (21)             Steyn 3-26

Royal Challengers Bangalore 155/3 (19.1 overs)
Kallis 66 (55)             Zaheer 1-18
Pandey 40 (27)          Harbhajan 1-35

Also Read:

Match Preview - Delhi Daredevils  vs. Deccan Chargers

Match Preview - Chennai Super Kings vs. Kings XI Punjab

File Photograph Copyright: Michael Henn

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