Bangalore Royal Challengers posted a thrilling 5 wicket victory over the Mumbai Indian’s first appearance in the IPL (Indian Premier League) Cricket. Earlier Bangalore Royal Challengers were defeated by Kolkatta Knight Riders. Sachin Tendulkar was ruled out from playing for his Team – Mumbai Indians, due to groin injury. Harbhajan Singh took the captaincy in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar.

Mumbai Indians won the Toss and elected to bat first. The opening batsmen for Mumbai Indians were L. Ronchi (replacement for Sachin) and S. Jayasuriya. Jayasuriya made a firm start but unfortunately got run out. He scored 29 runs off 16 balls which included 5 boundaries and a sixer. Robin Uthappa played a good Innings by scoring 48 runs off 38 balls (5 boundaries and a sixer).Shaun Pollock made a quick 28 runs off 12 balls (3 boundaries and 2 sixers). Zaheer Khan took 2 wickets and was the most economical bowler from the Royal Challengers side. Akhil also grabbed 2 wickets in 3 overs. The Mumbai Indians scored a decent total of 165 runs for the fall of 6 wickets.

Bangalore Royal Challengers in chasing the target of 166 runs made a start thru their opening batsmen S. Chanderpaul and the skipper Rahul Dravid. Rahul Dravid played a caution Innings this time and made a decent 32 runs off 33 balls (4 boundaries). It was indeed a brilliant team work from the batsmen who posted a decent and timely score in order to achieve their target. Taylor with 23 runs off 12 balls (1 boundary and 2 sixers), Kallis with 25 runs off 24 balls (1 sixer) and Kohli with 23 runs off 14 balls (3 boundaries and 1 sixer) proved their efforts in Team Work Wins! Mark Boucher played an excellent Innings by scoring 39 runs off 19 balls (4 boundaries and 2 sixers). From the Mumbai Indians’ bowling side Harbhajan Singh took 2 wickets and Shaun Pollock did not take any wickets but bowled economically.

Finally the Bangalore Royal Challengers reached their target of 166 runs, with just 2 balls remaining. The match was really fun-filled, exciting and thrilling till the last over. Mark Boucher was declared the Man of the Match.

Posted on April 21st, 2008 by Trix
Filed under: IPL Cricket