Suryakumar Yadav smashed 83 off 35 balls as Mumbai Indians thrashed Royal Challengers Bangalore to a six wickets victory in the IPL on Tuesday.
At Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai romped home with 21 balls to spare after Suryakumar put on a scorching 140-run stand with Nehal Wadhera, who made an unbeaten 52 as they chased down 200 to win.
Mumbai’s sixth victory in their last 11 games has given their sputtering season new life as the five-time champions aim for a top-four finish to secure a play-off berth.
After captain Faf du Plessis (65), and Glenn Maxwell (68), Bangalore’s 199-6 looked like a small total thanks to Suryakumar’s blitz, which was his best in the IPL.
“He is one of the best isn’t he?” Du Plessis, who leads the tournament batting chart with 576 runs, said of Suryakumar.
“When he gets going he’s really difficult to bowl to. So many options you can’t shut him down. One of the greats of the game at the moment.”
Suryakumar, who had a bad start to the season before hitting form, said: “Much needed from team’s point of view. I am very happy to win a home game like this.”
Ishan Kishan, the opener, scored a quick-fire 42, but Mumbai fell to 52-2 when Rohit Sharma, the captain, was dismissed for seven, prolonging his batting slump.
Suryakumar and the left-handed Wadhera quickly restarted the pursuit, though, and launched an offensive against the opposition.
After settling in, Suryakumar exploded to reach his fifty in just 26 balls and continued to lead the way with a barrage of sixes and fours.
Tim David was out for a duck when Suryakumar fell with his team needing eight more runs to win, but Wadhera hit the game-winning six to raise his fifty.
Earlier, the in-form Du Plessis managed to recover from a dropped catch on zero to score his sixth half-century of the year.
After Mumbai announced his inclusion in place of the injured Jofra Archer, who flew home to “focus on his rehabilitation,” England’s Chris Jordan had a rough start, with his first two overs leaking 31 runs.
Jordan was greeted by Maxwell with two sixes in his first over, but the pace bowler turned the situation around in his final two and got rid of Dinesh Karthik (30).
Australia’s quick left arm Virat Kohli was one of the two wickets that Jason Behrendorff took early on en route to scoring 3-36.
In their fourth century partnership of the season, Du Plessis and Maxwell combined to punish the Mumbai attack at 16-2, hitting seven sixes between them.
Bangalore dropped to seventh in the standings after suffering their third loss in four games.
