CRICKET
Padikkal and Kohli humiliate the Royals
In the 16th match of IPL 2021, Royal Challengers Bangalore were up against Rajasthan Royals.
RCB won the match without losing a single wicket. They successfully chased the target of 178 in only 16.4 overs.
RCB won the toss and decided to bowl first.
Captain Virat Kohli’s team were on fire from the start as Mohammed Siraj dented the Royals with early wickets.
Rajasthan were in big trouble with 43-4 in first 8 overs.
However, they recovered well when the middle order batsmen started to push the run rate up.
Shivam Dube and Rahul Tewatia made 46 and 40 runs to get the Royals over 150 mark.
The 2008 IPL champions, posted a total of 177 for 9 in their 20 overs after losing power hitters Jos Buttler and David Miller early.
Mohammed Siraj was the pick of the bowlers from RCB with 27-3 in his four overs.
Harshal Patel and Kane Richardson also contributed from the bowling side.
RCB were set to chase 178 on 120 balls.
The opening pair of Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli played superbly and took the game away from Royals.
A brilliant century from Padikkal saw RCB win the match with 10 wickets in hand.
This was one of the best opening partnerships in RCB’s IPL history.
Kohli made unbeaten 72 runs with 3 sixes and 6 fours.
Man of the match Devdutt was unbeaten on 101 off just 52 balls with 11 fours and 6 sixes.
Royals used 6 bowlers, but none of them got any wicket.
RCB are on top of the league table with 4 wins out of 4.
Mumbai Indians vs Punjab Kings
It now time for the 17th match of IPL 2021.
Both of the teams have lost their previous game and will look to come back to winning ways.
The defending champions, Mumbai started the season with a loss, but their comeback was excellent as they won 2 games in a row.
However, their dismal batting was the major reason losing against the Delhi Capitals.
Their big names like skipper Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and De Kock are yet to play a big innings.
The lack of form of the key match-winners will be their main concern against Punjab.
However, the bowling is firing on all cylinders with proven performers like Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul Chahar and Trent Boult.
It will be interesting to see how they bowl against the likes of Chris Gayle.
On the other side, Punjab has struggled with both batting and bowling.
Captain Rahul scored some runs against Hyderabad, but the team lacks quality in bowling and they are unable to defend even big scores.
It will be a keenly fought contest as both the teams will look to return to their winning ways.
However, in our view, Mumbai Indians are looking like the favourites because of their superior quality in batting and bowling.