Royal Challengers Bangalore had out-thought, out-planned and out-executed Mumbai Indians until Anil Kumble dropped Dwayne Bravo off his own bowling in the 15th over, a catch that would have reduced Mumbai to 86 for 6. The game turned from thereon as Bravo and Saurabh Tiwary took 79 off the last six overs to keep the match in the balance.
That big Mumbai finish was exactly what Bangalore were trying to avoid when they held back Dale Steyn through the first 10 overs. As far as Steyn was concerned, he executed the plan perfectly. Charged up, he responded by inflicting a three-ball duck on Kieron Pollard, and generally pushed the batsmen back with ferocious pace and bounce on a lively Kingsmead pitch.
The plan did involve some risk, but the Kumars at Nos. 1 and 2 started its perfect execution. Praveen Kumar began with a maiden, R Vinay Kumar began tightly at the other end; both men extracted movement and bounce. Praveen's pièce de résistance was Sachin Tendulkar's wicket in the third over with slight away movement. Vinay followed it up with the loose-looking Ambati Rayudu's wicket.
Shikhar Dhawan and JP Duminy then got stuck, going from nowhere to nowhere. Many an ungainly shot was played, and Kumble got through seven overs from the Kumars for 42 runs. Around that seventh over, live poll results on TV showed 70% people thought Bangalore had made the right move by saving Steyn for Pollard. Pollard saw that too, and smiled.
His time was soon going to come as Duminy ended his painful stay by hitting Jacques Kallis to long-on. Mumbai made Bangalore wait by sending Saurabh Tiwary in. Steyn took matters in his own hands, getting Dhawan's wicket in the 12th over. Out came Pollard. In came slip and a short leg. Bouncer. Ducked under. Slower ball. Missed. Length ball, extra bounce, leading edge, gone.
In Trinidad & Tobago, there must be saying that if Pollard doesn't get you, Bravo will. Especially if you drop Bravo, as Kumble did when he was on 1. Bravo thanked Kumble by hitting him for two fours in the same over, and then launching him for two sixes and a four in his next. There is a risk of understating Tiwary's performance, who didn't look intimidated at all, and slapped a Steyn bouncer for a flat six, and followed it up with back-to-back fours.
A high full toss in the 19th over ended Bravo's 17-ball 29, but that didn't slow Mumbai down as Harbhajan hit three boundaries in his 6-ball 14.
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