IPL 2018, RCB vs MI: Hits and Misses

#1 Hit: RCB pace attack

Tim Southee was awarded the Man of the Match for his terrific performance with the ball.

RCB have struggled to find the right bowling combination. After starting with Chris Woakes and Kulwant Khejroliya along with Umesh Yadav, but they proved to be quite expensive and hence, there was a change as Tim Southee was drafted in and Mohammed Siraj was also brought in.

Umesh Yadav has been RCB’s best bowler. He’s been excellent in the powerplay throughout this IPL. He’s often given RCB the early breakthrough, but he has disappointed at the death and hence, Virat Kohli has tried to finish his quota early. Once again, he was excellent as he turned the game in RCB’s favour when he picked up Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit Sharma off successive deliveries. And the Vidarbha pacer was brilliant in the field as well as He ran JP Duminy out from the cover boundary with an excellent throw.

It was Tim Southee’s second game and he brought the much-needed calmness to the bowling attack. He started with a bang as he knocked over Ishan Kishan with a beautiful in-swinger. He gave just 10 runs in his first two overs. And then he came back at the death and bowled the crucial overs. He bowled an excellent 18th over where he gave only 5 runs and then closed out the game in the final over finishing with 2/25.

Mohammed Siraj, on the other hand, was criticized in the last few games for his inconsistency. But even he came to the party as he took 2/28. He was very good at the death complimenting Southee very well.

Hence, it was a collective effort from the RCB pace attack as they delivered in unison and helped RCB get a crucial win.