Tendulkar stars as Mumbai win

Richard Asher - SuperSport

Jaipur - The Mumbai Indians easily chased down their target of 141 to beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bangalore on Tuesday.

Both Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu made half-centuries as the visitors got home with nine wickets and nine balls in hand.

The win makes it two out of two for the Indians, which takes them into a share of the IPL lead with the Rajasthan Royals.

At no point did their victory charge ever look in doubt. South African Davy Jacobs took the attack to Zaheer Khan early in the Bangalore reply, scoring a quick 22 before getting bowled by Dirk Nannes in the fifth over with the score on 33.

That did little to slow the scoring, however, with Tendulkar and Rayudu bringing up the 50 in the eighth over and continuing to attack every Bangalore bowler except Kiwi Danny Vettori.

The Bangalore captain conceded just 18 runs in his four overs, but the likes of Khan were not able to help out with any pressure as Tendulkar and Rayudu sauntered to their target with 16 boundaries between them.

Their partnership was worth 110 runs, for which they needed 85 balls.

The Royal Challengers had earlier reached 140/4 from their 20 overs after being asked to bat.

While AB de Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan weighed in with the bat for the Royal Challengers, the Indians bowlers were the real stars in the first half of the match.

Figures of 2/32 for Lasith Malinga (both his victims were bowled), 2/25 for Kieron Pollard and 0/10 in three overs for Munaf Patel ensured that Bangalore made fewer runs than they would have hoped for.

The Royal Challengers, put in to bat by Tendulkar in front of a cacophonous crowd in Bangalore, got off to the worst possible start thanks to Malinga.

The Sri Lankan pace bowler uprooted Mayank Agarwal’s off stump with the first ball of the match.

Indians bowlers Patel, Pollard and Malinga kept it tight in the overs that followed, and their discipline was rewarded by another wicket in the fifth over.

This one went to West Indian Pollard, who got Virat Kohli to sky it as he tried for a big hit on the leg side. Wicketkeeper Jacobs managed to get under the ball in time to take a good catch.

The Royal Challengers were in trouble at 20/2 after five overs as the loss of Kohli brought De Villiers to the wicket. But the subsequent partnership between De Villiers and Dilshan would dominate the Bangalore recovery.

The test stars stood together until the 17th over, putting on 90 runs at a respectable rate before De Villiers tried to hit Pollard over mid-wicket and instead got a top-edge that fell into the hands of grateful bowler.

His 36-ball 38, which included plenty of well-worked singles as well as three fours and a six, was valuable for the Royal Challengers as it allowed them to push on with freedom in the dying overs.

It also helped that Dilshan stayed at the crease until the end, ending his knock with 59 from 52 deliveries. He hit a six during the final over (bowled by Malinga) to help his side to their disappointing 140/4 at the end of their 20 overs.

Teams:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: MA Agarwal, TM Dilshan, V Kohli, AB de Villiers (wk), SS Tiwary, AUK Pathan, CA Pujara, Z Khan, DL Vettori (capt), DP Nannes, A Mithun

Mumbai Indians: SR Tendulkar (capt), DJ Jacobs (wk), AT Rayudu, RG Sharma, KA Pollard, JEC Franklin, R Sathish, Harbhajan Singh, AG Murtaza, MM Patel, SL Malinga