A mouth-watering batting performance and a brilliant bowling effort helped Mumbai Indians (MI) thrash Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by 7 wickets at the Wankhede Stadium. Defending a big 197, RCB bowlers struggled to find their rhythm right from the start. RCB pacers failed to bowl at good line and length, so they would have troubled the MI batters. Ishan Kishan top-scored 69 for MI, but it was Suryakumar Yadav’s blistering knock that powered MI to an easy win. Suryakumar roared back into form with a superb 19-ball 52 knock.

MI made a brilliant start after deciding to bowl first. Jasprit Bumrah dismissed the Orange Cap holder Virat Holder for just 3 while Akash Madhwal got the better of Will Jacks (8). However, Faf du Plessis and Rajat Patidar constructed the RCB innings with a valiant 82-run partnership. Gerald Coetzee provided the crucial breakthrough for MI by dismissing Patidar, who played an excellent knock of 26-ball 50.

Glenn Maxwell’s poor form continued as the Australian batter walked back for a duck. Du Plessis departed after playing a captain’s knock of 61. Bumrah ran through RCB lower-order and it seemed RCB would bundle out inside 180. But Dinesh Karthik exhibited an outstanding batting performance, taking RCB to a good 196/8 in 20 overs. Karthik remained unbeaten on 53, smashing 5 fours and 4 sixes.

Ishan and Rohit Sharma provided an amazing start to MI’s chase. Ishan took charge and rained boundaries as the opening pair added 101 runs inside 9 overs. Akash Deep bowled a slower bouncer to get rid of Ishan. Suryakumar continued with the momentum, blasting fours and sixes with ease. Reece Topley took a one-handed screamer to dismiss Rohit (38). But the damage was already done by Ishan and Suryakumar. Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma chipped in with 21* and 16* to secure a dominant win for MI.