As it happened: IPL 2022 - Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, Pune

RCB need 8 off 12 and Mumbai give Brevis a chance to show off his legspin. And he gets Kohli out first ball, in interesting circumstances. Kohli stretches forward to defend a legbreak that straightens along a stump-to-stump line, turning a little less than expected. Loud lbw appeal, and it's given on field.

Kohli reviews immediately, and the ball passes extremely close to the inside edge. It's one of those where Ultra Edge shows a spike when bat, ball and front pad are all extremely close to each other. Not enough evidence of ball hitting bat first, so the third umpire can't overrule the on-field decision. Correct call from him, but Kohli is fuming. He's out for 48 off 36.

Then Glenn Maxwell walks in for his first innings of IPL 2022, and finishes it off in two balls, two fours, both off reverse-slaps. I don't think he switched his hands on either, but I could be wrong. Anyway, RCB win with nine balls remaining. A commanding performance.

Mumbai, like Chennai Super Kings earlier in the day, have slipped to their fourth defeat in four games.

He's run out in the 17th over, going for a second run at Kohli's urging. His innings of 66 off 47, however, has put RCB firmly on course to victory. I'm sure a lot of you must now be wanting to know a little more about this young left-hander.

You're in luck, because Vishal Dikshit has all the background knowledge you need:

Anuj Rawat’s story is a lot like Rishabh Pant’s. He is also an attacking wicketkeeper-batter who hails from Uttarakhand but moved to Delhi before he turned teenager to make a future in professional cricket. He is originally from Ramnagar, a town in the Nainital district, which is famous for the Jim Corbett National Park. Like Pant, he is a naturally attacking batter who loves hitting sixes and takes on the bowlers right from the start.

Rawat made his Ranji Trophy debut for Delhi just before he turned 18, in October 2017, and he has been a consistent performer in the domestic circuit since then, especially against the white ball.

In the most recent Vijay Hazare Trophy – India’s domestic 50-over competition – Rawat’s average of 58.33 and strike rate of 108.69 were higher than anyone’s in his team. He played only four innings but also struck the most sixes (eight) for Delhi.

Back in 2017-18, Rawat struck fifties in his first two Ranji Trophy matches and scored his maiden century in December 2018 against Madhya Pradesh when the Delhi score was 36 for 5. His counterattacking 134 off 183 balls helped Delhi secure a big lead and eventually seal a nine-wicket win.

RCB shelled out a big price for him because of his attacking strokeplay at the top, and because they lacked a left-hand batting option in their top and middle order.

RCB now need 30 off 24. Rawat has swatted a short ball from Pollard for a six over square leg and moved to 60 off 44.

Dew, maybe? Thampi thumps the pitch on a hard length, Kohli flicks in the air, and Brevis puts down a dolly at deep square leg. Kohli was batting on 30 at that point.

Someone in the crowd holds up a banner saying "I will not date until Virat's 71".

Now that could mean until he's 71 years old, which could entail a bit of a wait.

Or his 71st international hundred, which... could entail a bit of a wait too, who knows.

For now, Virat is bringing the crowd to their feet with some super strokeplay. Bumrah comes back in the 14th over, bowls a bouncer at Kohli, and gets absolutely smashed between long-on and deep midwicket. He judged the length so early, and met the ball so far in front of his body with the pull, with his arms fully extended.

RCB end the over at 102 for 1. They need 50 off 36 balls.

Off 38 balls. Lovely innings from Rawat. The target hasn't forced him to hurry, and that's allowed him to show us his gifts of balance, still head and timing.

Two moments of aggression from Kohli in the 12th over, bowled by Basil Thampi. Clears his front leg to whip a full ball to the midwicket boundary. Then a premeditated dash down the wicket, which Thampi spots - he bowls a quick bouncer that Kohli can't put bat to with the attempted pull.

Rawat then gets the strike and plays the shot of the innings so far, a gorgeous flicked six. Then he steps deep in his crease to convert a back-of-a-length ball into a short ball and cracks it away between backward point and short third.

He ends the over batting on 47 off 34, and RCB are 86 for 1. They now need 66 from 48 balls.

M Ashwin continues to concede pressure-relieving boundaries. He bowls a slot ball to Rawat that's driven powerfully to the straight boundary, and then Kohli steps out and whips him against the turn between deep midwicket and long-on. Ten runs off the 11th over, and RCB's equation is now 81 off 54.

The Rawat-du Plessis stand was the third-slowest fifty partnership for the first wicket in IPL history.

We saw it when Mumbai were batting against Harshal Patel, and we're seeing it now when Pollard and Unadkat are bowling through the middle overs.

Virat Kohli, however, has found a way to the boundary despite the lack of pace. Steps out, creates room, and uses it to free his arms and slap the ball to the point boundary off Pollard in the tenth over. Even so, RCB only score eight off the over, and reach the halfway point of their chase at 61 for 1.

They now need 91 off the last 60 balls. Dew hasn't seemed to play a major role so far. If it stays away, we could still have a match on our hands.

Faf du Plessis looks to take on the Unadkat slower ball and picks out long-on in the ninth over. RCB 50 for 1 in 8.1 overs.

Kieron Pollard bowls the eighth over, and it's a decent one - just the five runs off it, and a chance of a potential run-out fluffed.

But Mumbai have three more overs to get through with their fifth bowler: a mixture of Pollard and maybe Dewald Brevis's legspin and Ramandeep Singh's medium-pace. It'll be interesting to see how those overs go.

Mumbai 50 for 0 in eight overs.

M Ashwin bowls a full-toss to Rawat, a half-volley to du Plessis, and also throws in a wide. Fifteen off the seventh over, and RCB move to 45 for no loss.

No boundaries in the powerplay other than those two sixes from Rawat. Mumbai have tried hard for wickets, using two overs of Jasprit Bumrah within the first six, but they haven't separated the openers.

On the flip side, RCB's required rate is now 8.71, and Faf du Plessis is batting on 6 off 16 balls. They're still in control, though, you'd think.

Judging by the chants emanating from the crowd, we could be at the Chinnaswamy rather than Pune. Those chants grow louder after Anuj Rawat steps out twice in a row to Jaydev Unadkat and hits him for a pair of stunning straight sixes.

RCB 14 for 0 in two overs.

It's not all RCB fans in the stands, though...

Suryakumar swats a last-ball full-toss over the on-side boundary to finish unbeaten on 68 off 37, and to lift Mumbai past the 150 mark. They finish with 151 for 6.

But the first five balls of that over, from Harshal Patel, were close to unhittable. He kept Unadkat on strike for the first three, then Suryakumar swung and missed at two slower balls.

After all that, Suryakumar's given Mumbai something they could conceivably defend if they get some early breakthroughs. Superb knock. Harshal finishes with figures of 4-0-23-2, and there were excellent displays from Hasaranga (2-28) and Akash Deep (1-20) as well. Tough day in the office for Siraj, who ends up conceding 51 in his four overs.

Interesting insights from Harshal in his interview with Star Sports after the innings. He talks about the importance of maintaining a quick arm speed while bowling his slower ball, and also says they were drifting a little today, in the air.

"There's no dew as of now, because there's a strong breeze blowing across the field," he says - encouraging words for Mumbai's bowlers. "I don't suspect there will be a lot of dew [during the chase]."

Twenty-three off the 19th over, and Mumbai are 144 for 6. The six off the last ball was something else. Suryakumar was sitting deep in his crease, with his stance open, and Siraj bowled a pretty good ball, full and wide outside off stump, making him reach for the ball.

Suryakumar, however, is in rare form. Reaches out, opens his bat face, and somehow slices the ball all the way over the fine third man boundary. Terrific.

Outstanding knock, off just 32 balls. Suryakumar has steered Mumbai to 131 for 6, with Jaydev Unadkat giving him steadfast company, and they still have nine balls remaining.

Not quite. Harshal's dip causes a slow full-toss to sneak below Suryakumar's attempted... what was he attempting? HE premeditated a sweep/scoop over short fine leg, and ended up in an awkward position against this full-toss, flapping instinctively at the ball. Smacks into his chest, but the ball wouldn't be above waist height if he was standing up, so it isn't a no-ball.

There's an appeal for lbw, and it isn't given. RCB review, and Suryakumar is reprieved by an umpire's call verdict - clipping the edge of the top of leg stump, ball-tracking says.

I can't think of a good one for this particular situation, but Suryakumar Yadav could help Mumbai to something like a fighting total if the lower order sticks around with him. He's moved to 28 off 20, and he's hit a couple of super shots in the last couple of overs, the pick of them an inside-out six over extra-cover off Shahbaz Ahmed.

Mumbai are 99 for 6 in 16 overs.

Ramandeep Singh goes for 6 off 12 in his first IPL game. He's done in by the Harshal offcutter. Now we often talk about how he gets that ball to dip, but generally it's the fuller-length version of this ball that's spoken about in that manner. Now he bowls back of a length, but the ball dips and descends steeply into the pitch, which leads to extra bounce. Ramandeep looks to open his face and dab to third man, and gets a thin edge to the keeper. Mumbai are 79 for 6 in 13.2.

This is all a little breathless now. Kieron Pollard is stuck in the crease against a zippy wrong'un, ends up playing all around it, and he's struck on the back pad, right in front. He reviews, and has to depart when ball-tracking returns an umpire's call verdict on height.

Mumbai 62 for 5 in 10.1 overs. They've lost 5 for 12 in the last 3.5 overs.

You really shouldn't, methinks. All for just one run.

But the anxiety that Mumbai's innings has sunk into causes Tilak Varma to take that chance when he taps one off the back foot into the off side. Never do that when Glenn Maxwell is hovering in the covers, though. Quick sprint to his left, then he picks up the ball, throws himself forward, and underarms the ball onto the stumps at the bowling end - all in one motion. Verma goes for a four-ball duck, and Mumbai are 62 for 4 in 9.5 overs.

He's out for 26 off 27, caught at deep third while looking to ramp a short ball from Akash Deep. Mumbai are 62 for 3 in 9.2 overs.

Does Brevis with the flatter trajectory on the wrong'un. Goes back and across, deep in his crease, when the ball isn't quite as short as he thinks, and the ball turns in to beat his flick and smack him on the pad right in front of middle and off. Mumbai are 60 for 2 in 8.3 overs.

Akash Deep starts the eighth over with a slip in place for Dewald Brevis. Not enough width to cut the first ball, and he gets a thick edge, but it flies quickly and low past the left hand of the diving slip fielder, Kohli.

Excellent over all in all from Akash. Just the seven runs off it including that edged four. Goes past Brevis' outside edge twice too, with a hint of seam movement and definite extra bounce.

It's that slower ball again. First over after the powerplay, and Rohit shapes to flick a ball from outside off stump. But he's early on the shot, and he pops back a simple return catch. Mumbai 50 for 1 in 6.2 overs.

That's Mumbai's powerplay score.

Only six runs off the first two overs, when the ball was moving around. 43 runs in four overs since then, with both openers looking fluent. Wanindu Hasaranga has already bowled one over, the fifth, which went for 13 runs.

Rohit's getting an early move on. The six was a proper charge down the track to launch Siraj over long-on. Not typical of him to play that kind of shot off a fast bowler early on. Mumbai 29 for 0 after four overs.

A bit of green on the surface, and for the first two overs the ball swung and seamed. Both David Willey and Mohammed Siraj went past the edge in that period.

But the help for the new ball isn't going to last long, and the conditions are starting to look quite different, with the ball coming nicely onto the bat. Both Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan have found the boundary once, a checked on-drive from the former and a short-arm jab past midwicket from the latter - no follow-through needed in either case.

Mumbai are 13 for 0 in three overs.

He played Mumbai's first two games, scored 12 and 1, and was left out against KKR, with Dewald Brevis taking his place. Today Mumbai have left out two overseas players, which left room for David to come back, but he's still not found a place in their XI. Rohit Sharma didn't mention anything about an injury at the toss against either KKR or today, but I don't think he was asked about it either.

Nagraj Gollapudi, who's at the MCA Stadium today, tries to puzzle this one out:

"Having bought him for a massive sum of INR 8.25 crore (USD 1.1 million approx), you’d expect Mumbai to field Tim David as a regular in their XI. Yet, David, who was bought for his power-hitting skills, which the Mumbai team management felt would come handy in the role as a finisher, has played just two matches. Both times he got out to spin. And that is something Mumbai have been bothered by and on Saturday opted to once again ignore David. Instead they offered a debut to the uncapped Indian allrounder Ramandeep Singh.

"Ramandeep, who plays for Punjab, was recognised by Mumbai’s scouting team for his hard hitting skills in the middle order. In addition Ramandeep also bowls sharp medium-pace, and that is another reason Mumbai felt they could drop the left-arm fast bowling pair of Tymal Mills and Daniel Sams who have failed to make an impact both in the powereplay and death-overs segments."

Faf du Plessis wins the toss, and RCB choose to bowl. Just the one change for them, and it's the expected one. Glenn Maxwell replaces Sherfane Rutherford.

Mumbai hand out new caps to Jaydev Unadkat and Ramandeep Singh, a right-hand batter from Punjab. Tymal Mills and Daniel Sams make way, which means they're only playing two overseas players. Wow.

Mumbai Indians: 1 Ishan Kishan (wk), 2 Rohit Sharma (capt), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Dewald Brevis, 6 Kieron Pollard, 7 Ramandeep Singh, 8 M Ashwin, 9 Basil Thampi, 10 Jaydev Unadkat, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Anuj Rawat/Mahipal Lomror, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 David Willey, 6 Shahbaz Ahmed, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Wanindu Hasaranga, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Akash Deep.