Rohit: “We wanted to bowl first too, trend and nature of the pitch. It gets better as the game goes on. We know we have to play good cricket to win, whether we bat first or bowl first doesn’t matter. We need to apply ourselves more than before. All games you play are big games. You want to get some momentum with a win, we’ve been looking for it for three games. (Suryakumar) He’s a quality player. Strengthens are batting with him coming back. We look forward to the same not only from him but everyone else. Left out Tymal Mills, Unadkat comes in. Daniel Sams is out too.”
Faf: “It’s our first game here so not sure what it will do. Stadiums are putting grass initially to protect surfaces. Hopefully, there’s dew later. For me, the pleasing thing was that we managed to get across in games that had pressure. Maxwell is back, been really good for RCB. Replaces Rutherford. Will slot into the No. 4 position, In that middle period he is a very good player of spin. DK is going really well, it’s the role and clarity that we’ve given DK that will give him some consistency.”
Indian Premier League 2022 Points Table
Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians Highlights today, Saturday 9-4-2022. 18th Match (N), Tata Indian Premier League from Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune.
Harshal Patel: “Definitely taken 7 in the final over, especially against a quality batter like Surya. (Slower ball) They were drifting in the air, which made it a bit more effective today.”
Toss: Royal Challengers Bangalore opt to bowl.
Royal Challengers Bangalore team: 1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Anuj Rawat, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 David Willey, 6 Shahbaz Ahmed, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Wanindu Hasaranga, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Akash Deep.
Mumbai Indians team: 1 Ishan Kishan (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Dewald Brevis, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Ramandeep Singh, 8 M Ashwin, 9 Basil Thampi, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.
Rohit Sharma: (two overseas players) Just went with the combination that would be ideal. We chose the best from whatever we had. I wanted to bat as long as possible but got out at the wrong time. We had gotten off to a 50-run partnership but got out at the wrong time. That is hurting us a little bit. Definitely not a 150-run pitch, Surya showed us you can do that if you bat sensibly. Credit to Surya, but we knew it wasn’t going to be enough. (Areas of concern) We want batters to bat deep. And if you get runs on the board, there’s something for the bowlers to do.”
Wanindu Hasaranga: “Normally my googly turns more than leg-spin, so that’s why I bowl googlies more. We have a lot of good talent. So whenever I get a chance I am ready to take it.”
Indian Premier League 2022 Fixture
Head to head
Total matches played: 29
RCB Won: 12
MI Won: 17
Faf du Plessis: “Mumbai are a quality team and we had excellent bowling for at least 18 overs. There was something in it for the bowlers in the first innings. We didn’t want to give them a good start. Rohit played some good shots but his wicket was valuable. Akash Deep bowled really well tonight. It was just one of those nights, where you mix bowlers around and they keep getting wickets. (The chase) Very good, Anuj. I spoke about him before the tournament, he has potential and we talk a lot to develop game awareness. Comes down the wicket, and shows intent, he’s a very good player for the future.”
Indian Premier League 2022 Teams
Anuj Rawat is the Player of the Match: “It feels great to score runs in a winning match. I was just following the process. I was not able to connect in other games, today did it well. Hope for many more to come. RCB team has given us confidence but they have backed me even when I couldn’t finish the game. Enjoying the company of Virat Bhaiya and Faf.”
Match Timings: 14:00 GMT | 19:30 Local
Umpires – Bruce Oxenford, KN Ananthapadmanabhan
TV Umpires – Ulhas Gandhe
Match Referee – Narayanan Kutty
Reserve Umpire – Vinod Seshan
Match number – Tata IPL 2022 – Seasone 15, 18th Match
