Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma react after RCB’s defeat to Mumbai Indians

Yesterday’s match will be best remembered for the show put on by the two captains – Mumbai’s Rohit Sharma and Bangalore ‘s Virat Kohli.

After Kohli stuck MI in, Umesh Yadav’s twin strikes in the fiery first over was an ideal start for RCB.

“Always easier when you spend some time in the crease”. We can take a lot of confidence from this game and move ahead.

The highest run-aggregator in the Indian Premier League has also secured the highest, unprecedented increments in his IPL salaries. “It was all about putting a collective performance”, the captain said. By the end, Kohli was left unbeaten on a 62-ball 92, that included 7 fours and 4 sixes, which gave him the orange cap – but his side would end up on the losing side for the third time this season. Although RCB got to a dream start when their opening pacer Umesh Yadav picked up 2 wickets, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, in the first two balls of the match. It’s important to have an experienced player in the middle.

A peeved Woakes was seen gesturing a nick on the bat, while Kohli was more angered than confused – a situation made worse when Pandya hit two sixes off Woakes and Mumbai added 21 runs, including three wides by Corey Anderson, off the last over to reach 6-213. “Whatever I need to do for the team”, he said. Mitch bowled a great spell upfront to get the experienced batsmen out and then Krunal came in and used his variation to his advantage.

When Lewis (65) finally fell in the 12th over, Mumbai had not only succeeded in damage control but found themselves in a good position to aim for a 200-run total.

In the past we have seen how unsafe MI can be when Rohit is in form and if anyone wanted further evidence of that, Rohit’s knock just did that. Following three losses, Mumbai Indians could hardly have started their fourth game on a more disastrous note. Both the batsmen kept the Mumbai bowlers at bay and also kept a check on run rate, scoring at an average of 10 per over, slightly lesser than the required. If Krunal Pandya and Mayank Markande were attacking for Mumbai, Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar were defensive, bowing to the pressure created by Lewis and Rohit early on.

The Next Stop: Virat Kohli’s side will play Glenn Maxwell and the Delhi Daredevils on Sunday whilst Mumbai will look to claim back-to-back victories when they play the returning Rajasthan Royals on Monday.