MUMBAI, India: A whirlwind batting performance powered the Mumbai Indians to a stunning seven-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League on Thursday.
Chasing 198 for victory, Ishan Kishan smacked 69 off 34 balls and then Suryakumar Yadav smacked 52 off only 19 balls as Mumbai crossed the finish line in 15.3 overs.
It finished with 199-3 in reply to Bengaluru’s 196-8 in 20 overs with Dinesh Karthik scoring 53 not out off 26 balls.
Put into bat, Bengaluru’s batting faltered against Jasprit Bumrah who picked 5-21 in four overs and restricted the visitors to an under-par score.
Bumrah broke through in the third over and had leading run-scorer Virat Kohli caught behind for three runs.
English batter Will Jacks had been drafted in for Australian all-rounder Cameron Green, but he too fell to Bumrah for only 8.
Skipper Faf du Plessis and Rajat Patidar put on 82 off 47 balls for the third wicket. Du Plessis found form again and scored his first half-century of the season — 61 off 40 balls, including four fours and three sixes.
Patidar scored 50 off 26 balls as Bengaluru’s innings seemed to correct course. But Mumbai struck back with Gerald Coetzee getting the breakthrough to send back Patidar.
Another big moment followed when Glenn Maxwell was out lbw for a four-ball duck to spinner Shreyas Gopal.
Bumrah returned to sink the remaining Bengaluru lineup — he was on a hat trick twice, but missed out on both. He had du Plessis caught in the 17th over, and then Mahipal Lomror for a duck in the 17th over. Two overs later, he picked another brace off consecutive deliveries.
Karthik held one end together though, hitting four sixes and five fours to prop up Bengaluru from 153-6 in 16.5 overs, falling just short of 200.
It wasn’t going to be enough on a dewy Wankhede wicket, but Mumbai seemed to be in a hurry.
Kishan put on 101 off only 53 balls with Rohit Sharma (38), as he blazed seven fours and five sixes.
Bengaluru’s bowling had no response, or respite, with Mumbai crossing 100 in the ninth over.
Kishan was finally caught in the deep, but Yadav walked in to further torment the visitors. He hit four sixes, and another five fours, scoring 50 off only 17 balls.
Sharma was dismissed in the 12th over, even as it didn’t slow down proceedings. Yadav was out caught in the 14th over, with Mumbai on the cusp of victory and duly won the game with 27 balls to spare.
It was Bengaluru’s fifth loss in six games, along with a major hit to its net run-rate, as it sunk to ninth in the points’ table.
Mumbai moved up to seventh with four points from five games.
Kishan and Bumrah lead Mumbai to 7-wicket win over Bengaluru in IPL
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Kishan and Bumrah lead Mumbai to 7-wicket win over Bengaluru in IPL
- Chasing 198 for victory, Ishan Kishan smacked 69 off 34 balls and then Suryakumar Yadav smacked 52 off only 19 balls
- Mumbai finished with 199-3 in reply to Bengaluru’s 196-8 in 20 overs with Dinesh Karthik scoring 53 not out off 26 balls
Rublev marches on, Bublik and Draper fall at Dubai Tennis Championships
- No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev, the 2022 champion, dispatches Ugo Humbert in epic three setter 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3
- Tallon Griekspoor upsets No. 2 seed Alexander Bublik in straight sets to set-up quarterfinal clash with No. 6 seed Jakub Mensik
DUBAI: Andrey Rublev signaled his determination to reclaim the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title on Wednesday, as the ruthless Russian dispatched fellow former champion Ugo Humbert in a titanic, three-set tussle on center court.
As a two-time finalist in Dubai and the winner there in 2022, Rublev already has fond memories of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium. Meanwhile Humbert, who has also tasted success in Dubai having edged Alexander Bublik to the title in 2024, was looking to tame a second former winner in the space of 24 hours after eliminating reigning champion Stefanos Tsitsipas on Tuesday.
In the early stages of the match a smattering of vocal young fans stirred up an endless cacophony of noise from all four grandstands as the near-capacity crowd repeatedly serenaded both players with cries of “Let’s go, Andrey” and “Allez, Ugo,” the even split among the supporters mirroring the evenly matched contest.
The nail-biter of a match went with serve for the first six games before, as is so often the case in professional tennis, the seventh proved to be a critical turning point. Rublev took advantage of two break points afforded by a pair of uncharacteristic double-faults by Humbert to achieve what Tsitsipas had failed to do in the entirety of their Round of 32 clash: he broke the Frenchman.
The set then resettled into a familiar pattern as the pair once again held serve amid minimal threats. And so, after 41 minutes of the back-and-forth, Rublev claimed the opening set 6-4 courtesy of that sole break of serve.
The second set mirrored the first, this time with both players avoiding a break of serve, until Humbert, the current world No. 37, narrowly edged the tiebreak 7-5 to even the match.
With very little separating the battling duo at this point, their seesaw duel was akin to two prize fighters exchanging punches with neither able to land a decisive blow. Buoyed no doubt by the feverish support from their respective fans, both players refused to buckle.
But then, with the third set tied at 1-1, Rublev held serve, broke and held again to win three straight games and move 4-1 ahead. The match then, predictably, once again went with serve until it was 5-3.
Then Humbert, facing the prospect of elimination, suddenly found himself with two break points as his opponent wobbled while serving for the match. The steely Russian held his nerve, however, and dispatched a trio of massive serves, including two aces, to reverse the deficit and set up his first match-point.
That was all the 28-year-old needed, as another huge serve forced a Humbert error and sealed the match 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3.
“It was a very dramatic ending,” Rublev said. “I’m really happy I was able to keep going and save the last game.
“It’s difficult to close a match; you can make a double-fault or a mistake, but I made three good serves and that helped me a lot. It’s much easier to win points from the serve than playing rallies every time.”
He commended his opponent, saying: “Ugo played really well. I took my two break chances but he served unbelievably all match. He shoots super hard and very fast, so it’s not easy to do something. I had to be ready for the one chance to break him in a set, and I got those chances and was able to do it.
“This match gives me a lot of confidence, so we’ll see what will happen in the quarterfinal. I’m playing well, so let’s see.”
Rublev now faces another Frenchmen, Arthur Rinderknech, who emerged victorious from a grueling three-set marathon against the British No. 4 seed, Jack Draper, 7-5, 6-7, 6-4.
Their match, which finished well after midnight and with an eerie mist hovering over center court, yielded only two breaks of serve, both of which went Rinderknech’s way. Despite the defeat, Draper can head home with his head held high as his return to top-level tennis continues after a six-month injury layoff.
On the new court 1, Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands pulled off the biggest upset of the day by taming No. 2 seed Alexander Bublik in straight sets 6-3, 7-5. The win earned the world No. 25 a quarterfinal encounter with No. 6 seed Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic, who made short work of the Australian, Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-2.
