Patel was named Man of the Match for his game-winning half-century

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

The Royal Challengers Bangalore encountered little difficulty in their comfortable seven-wicket win over the Mumbai Indians in Dubai.

Almost all the Bangalore bowlers had an impact, while opening batsman Parthiv Patel was the standout performer with the bat as he smashed an unbeaten half-century.

Bangalore captain Virat Kohli made the right decision to bowl first as Mumbai opener Michael Hussey was caught by Yuzvendra Chahal at square leg off the bowling of Albie Morkel for 16.

Aditya Tare scored 17 runs before he was caught by Nic Maddinson off the bowling of Varun Aaron.

Ambati Rayudu, who made 35 runs off 37 balls, which included one boundary, and New Zealand all-rounder Corey Anderson, who mustered 18 runs were the only other batsmen to reach double figures as Mumbai finished on 115/9 after their middle and lower order completely collapsed.

Aaron, Chahal and Mitchell Starc picked up two wickets apiece, while Morkel and Ashok Dinda chipped in with one wicket each.

Chasing a simple target of 116 to win, Bangalore got off to a poor start as Maddinson was clean bowled by Lasith Malinga for 12.

Kohli failed to trouble the scorers as he was caught by Harbhajan Singh at slip off the bowling of Zaheer Khan.

Khan struck again just two balls later as he trapped Yuvraj Singh lbw for a duck.

However, from that point on it was all Bangalore as Patel and South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman AB de Villiers amassed an unbeaten 99-run partnership, during which Patel brought up his half-century, to lead the Royal Challengers to victory with 15 balls to spare.

Patel finished on 57 off 45 balls, which included seven boundaries, while de Villiers remained undefeated on 45 off 48 deliveries, which included three boundaries and a six.

Khan was the most successful bowler with two wickets, while Malinga snapped up one.

Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma blamed his batsmen for the loss, and said: “We were short on the runs. The bowlers gave us some chance. We were in the game for the first eight to nine overs, but they had a big partnership. We need to go back and see what we can do. Not to worry, things will fall in place. We have the ability and the potential. We should believe we have the team that can turn this around. I hope the batsmen put up a show in the coming few games.”

Kohli was pleased with the victory, and said: “It’s a lovely feeling. Two-nil. There was a nervous moment or two there, but there were positives. AB getting in early and getting a hit, and PP batting well.”

Patel was named Man of the Match, and said: “You can go and express yourself when you have a batting line-up like this. I’m quite enjoying this format.”