What happened the last time RCB beat MI at the Wankhede Stadium?
The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will lock horns with the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday, May 9. The two franchises will meet at this venue for the first time after three seasons. MI last hosted RCB for a match in Mumbai back in the 2019 season.
Rohit Sharma and Co. have an excellent record against Bangalore at the Wankhede Stadium. MI have battled RCB nine times at this stadium since 2008, with RCB winning only three of those matches.
The last time Royal Challengers Bangalore won a match against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium was eight years ago on May 10, 2015.
In this article now, we will look at how RCB overcame MI on their own home turf in the 2015 season.
AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli destroyed Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in IPL 2015
The Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and opted to bat first in an afternoon match in Mumbai. RCB got off to a slow start as Chris Gayle was back in the hut in the third over itself, scoring only 13 runs off 12 balls. Lasith Malinga dismissed him caught out when RCB's score was 20, bringing AB de Villiers to the middle.
De Villiers played out a maiden over against Malinga and was batting on three off nine balls at one stage. It seemed like RCB would struggle to put up a big score on the board.
However, de Villiers soon found his touch and ended up playing the best knock of his IPL career, scoring 133 runs off 59 balls. The South African star whacked 19 fours and four maximums during his unbeaten knock. He stitched together an unbeaten partnership of 215 runs for the second wicket with Virat Kohli.
Kohli majorly played the anchor's role, but accelerated towards the end and finished with 82 runs from 50 balls. He smacked six boundaries and four sixes as RCB set a mammoth 236-run target for the Mumbai Indians.
Lasith Malinga was the pick of the bowlers for MI with figures of 1/29 in four overs. All other MI bowlers had an economy rate of more than 10 runs per over.
Mumbai Indians could not touch the 200-run mark in their innings at Wankhede Stadium
In response, Parthiv Patel opened the batting with Lendl Simmons for the home team. They added 29 runs in 3.5 overs before Kohli dismissed Patel with a run-out on the final ball of the fourth over.
Captain Rohit Sharma could not make much of an impact as well, departing to the dressing room after a 13-ball 15. Simmons remained unbeaten till the end, scoring a 53-ball 68. Kieron Pollard supported him well with a 24-ball 49, but the other MI batters could not score big. MI scored 196/7 in 20 overs. RCB clinched a 39-run win.
Harshal Patel was the best bowler for RCB in that match. He conceded 36 runs in his four overs and picked up the big wickets of Rohit and Ambati Rayudu.
Kohli, Sharma, Patel and Dinesh Karthik played in that game and will be in action tonight as well at the Wankhede Stadium.
Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 235/1 (AB de Villiers 133*, Lasith Malinga 1/27) beat Mumbai Indians 196/7 (Lendl Simmons 68*, Harshal Patel 2/36) by 39 runs.