19 April,2018 12:36 PM IST | Mumbai | Harit N Joshi
Mumbai spinner Krunal Pandya (right) celebrates with skipper Rohit Sharma after dismissing Bangalore's Corey Anderson at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday. Pic/Suresh Karkera
The two captains' knocks weren't the only standout points in Tuesday's T20 match where the Mumbai ended its winless run by beating Bangalore by 46 runs.
Apart from Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma's 52-ball 94 and Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli's 62-ball 92 (the only positive part of Bangalore 's batting on the night), the major difference was the way the spin departments of both teams executed their plans.
Bangalore 's Yuzvendra Chahal (3-0-32-0) and Washington Sundar (2-0-32-0) were carted for 64 runs in their five overs, while Mumbai's Krunal Pandya (3-28) and Mayank Markande (1-25) returned with 8-0-53-4.
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Mayank Markande
The Bangalore spinners failed to keep up the pressure on Rohit and Mumbai opener, Evin Lewis (65), despite pacer Umesh Yadav striking on the first two balls of the Mumbai innings to dismiss Suryakumar Yadav and No. 3 batsman Ishan Kishan. The Mumbai spinners on the other hand, kept Bangalore batsmen under the pump after pacer Mitchell McClenaghan dismissed
Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers in the fifth over.
"Mitch bowled a great spell upfront to get the experienced batsmen out [De Kock and De Villiers], and then Krunal came in and used his variations to his advantage. He's very clever... a thinking bowler. He knows exactly where the batsman is going to target him and what he has to bowl to those kind of players. He reads the batsman really well and not to forget Mayank [Markande] as well. He is just 20-years old and playing only in his fourth game and to come out and bowl in such difficult conditions, is not easy. I think these two guys [must be] given a lot of credit," said Rohit after the comprehensive win on Tuesday night at the Wankhede Stadium.
Bangalore coach Daniel Vettori felt his spinners were defensive in their approach. "With Washington and Yuzi, they were in a defensive position with Rohit and Lewis being very aggressive. So, we bowled defensively," he said.
"When the Mumbai spinners came on, their team were in a good position and that allowed them to actually bowl and be a little more attacking. We saw the rewards they got." Kohli may have missed an opportunity to introduce Chahal early on in the innings, considering leg-spin is among Rohit's weaknesses - he has been dismissed 22 times by leg-spinners in T20s.
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