IPL 2024: Faf, Patidar, Karthik hit fifties as RCB reach 196/8 despite Bumrah’s 5-21

Faf du Plessis, Rajat Patidar and Dinesh Karthik struck half-centuries but Jasprit Bumrah thwarted them with a fifer as Royal Challengers Bengaluru posted 196/8 in 20 overs against Mumbai Indians in Match 25 in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Thursday.

Du Plessis struck a 40-ball 61, Rajat Patidar hammered 50 off 20 deliveries before Dinesh Karthik blazed to a 23-ball 53 in the death overs after Boom Boom Bumrah had claimed two wickets off successive deliveries twice on his way to a brilliant 5-21 off four overs after Hardik Pandya had won the toss and asked RCB to bat first.

Bumrah pulled Mumbai Indians back into the game with a brilliant bowling effort, bowling yorkers, fullish deliveries and low full-tosses to claim a five-wicket haul. That took his tally to 10 wickets for IPL 2024 and got him the Purple Cap.

RCB brilliantly ended their innings with Dinesh Karthik hammering Akash Madhwal for two sixes and a four. RCB blasted 66 runs off the last five overs, after a sedate start in the Power-play, to set Mumbai Indians a challenging target at the Wankhede where they have only won three games in 10.

RCB got off to a poor start as their inform-batter and former captain Virat Kohli succumbed early in the high-voltage clash on a hot and humid evening.

Kohli’s stay in the middle lasted nine balls and he got out for three runs even before he had got firing. The former RCB captain had survived a strong lbw appeal on the second ball of the third over bowled by Jasprit Bumrah.

However, Mumbai Indians’ best bowler this season so far had him man off the next delivery, Bumrah used his wide release angle to make the fullish length delivery to get into Kohli and the former India captain’s swipe at a ball going leg side kisses his bat and Ishan Kishan dived to his left and plucked a good catch. RCB down to 14/1.

It became 23/2 soon as debutant Will Jacks got out for eight off six balls as he was caught by Tim David off Akash Madhwal, failing to clear the mid-on fielder as the bowler banged it a bit short. Jacks, who struck Bumrah for a boundary off the second ball he faced, hit Madhwal for a boundary off the fourth delivery he faced in IPL and fell a ball later. RCB went on to make 44/2 in the Power-play.

However, they found their heroes in skipper Faf du Plessis and Rajat Patidar as the duo added 82 runs for the third wicket partnership as they took RCB past the 100-run mark. Both reached their half-centuries, Patidar blazing to his fifty off 26 balls, hitting three boundaries and four sixes.

Patidar started with a boundary off Madhwal and then repeated the act in the sixth over, swivelling and pulling over the fielder at midwicket a ball that pitched around good length around off. He hammered his first six of the day off leggie Shreyas Gopal, slogging it over cow corner a full-length ball around off. In the 10th over, he planted a delivery from Pandya into the second-tier over wide long-on as the Mumbai Indians skipper conceded 13 runs in his first over.

Patidar, who survived a DRS review for caught behind off Bumrah, hammered Gerald Coetzee for sixes off successive balls in the 12th over, flicking a knee-high full toss in front of square and following it up by flat-batting a pull in the same region. The second six brought in his half-century off 25 balls, studded with three fours and four sixes.

But the South African pacer had the last laugh as he banged it short and angled it into the batter, Patidar attempted to pull but gloved it to Ishan Kishan for a well-made fifty.

Glenn Maxwell failed once again but Du Plessis found a willing partner in Dinesh Karthik as they raised a crucial partnership.

Du Plessis continued in the same vein as he completed his half-century off 33 balls, hitting four boundaries and two maximums. The South African batter, who struck Mohd Nabi for a four off the last ball of the first over, picked fellow South African Coetzee from the good length and scooped the ball over the boundary shuffling to the off-side after his compatriot had nearly scythed through him with a delivery that jagged in sharply struck the RCB skipper on his body.

He struck a couple of boundaries off Romario Shepherd as he reached his 34th half-century in the Indian Premier League and 66th in T20s. He celebrated his fifty by planting Shreyas Gopal twenty rows back into the stands, backing away to a full delivery on the off.

Bumrah then turned things in Mumbai Indians’ favour, claiming two wickets off successive deliveries twice as he completed a well-deserved fifer.

He started the turnaround for Mumbai Indians by getting Du Plessis caught by Tim David, a shin-high full toss preventing the RCB skipper from getting under the ball to generate power. RCB fell to 153/5.

It became 153/6 as Bumrah trapped Mahipal Lomror for a first-ball duck with a superb toe-crusher. Replays confirmed that it would have clipped the outside of the leg stump.

Saurav Chauhan, who came in as an Impact Player, survived the hat-trick ball. But Bumrah was at it once again as he got Chauhan off the third delivery of the 18th over with a short one that the batter guided to midwicket and followed it up with his fifth wicket getting Vijaykumar Vyshak for a duck and ended with 5-21, bowling brilliantly on a pitch on which the ball was gripping a bit and other bowlers got hit for a few runs.

Dinesh Karthik, who watched the parade with his teammates from the other end, finished it in style, hitting Akash Madhwal for two sixes and a four in successive balls as they got 19 runs from the final over.

Karthik completed his half-century off 22 balls, hitting five boundaries and four sixes, essaying the finisher’s role to perfection as RCB fell just short of the 200-run mark.

Brief score:

Royal Challengers Bengaluru 196/8 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 61, Rajat Patidar 50, Dinesh Karthik 53 not out; Jasprit Bumrah 5-21) against Mumbai Indians.