The Rahul v McClenaghan subplot

KL Rahul, playing his first match this season, would have hoped for a smooth initiation. Instead, he was put through a proper short-ball examination by Mitchell McClenaghan. The fast bowler's first ball smashed the side of Rahul's helmet with the opener late to sway out of the way. The impact threw him off balance, but he recovered quickly to complete a leg bye. Shaken but not stirred, Rahul held his shape and negotiated four more short balls in the over without much trouble.

In testing the bounce offered by the surface, McClenaghan perhaps became predictable. Rahul was ready for the short-ball barrage in his second over. Rahul backed away and slapped the first ball he faced for six. McClenaghan wasn't in the mood to back down and he sent down another bouncer. This time, Rahul arched back to ramp it over the wicketkeeper. Then came a delicious ball on leg stump, which he whipped behind square for four. The last ball was floated wide, and Rahul poked and nicked it, Harbhajan Singh gleefully accepting the catch at slip.

AB de Villiers bunted Harbhajan to short midwicket and set off for a single in the seventh over. He was halfway down the pitch when he realised Virat Kohli was ball-watching. Harbhajan, oblivious to the mid-pitch drama, collected Rohit Sharma's throw and was looking to break the stumps at the bowler's end when he heard Parthiv Patel's call of "keeper, keeper". By then, it was too late as de Villiers dived full-length to make his ground. The reprieve cost Mumbai Indians 22 runs.

Trying to bowl with a slinging action, Krunal Pandya fired a full delivery on a sixth-stump line down the leg side. When the frame was frozen on his delivery stride, his action resembled a javelin thrower gearing up for his final thrust. The ball beat the batsman as well as the diving wicketkeeper, and went for five wides. Krunal put his hand up to calm a fuming Parthiv. He later said he had been practicing the delivery in the nets.

Parthiv was dismissed in the second over of Mumbai's innings. Ambati Rayudu could have followed him in the next over. Instead, Royal Challengers Bangalore conceded four overthrows to Rohit. Both batsmen set off for a suicidal single after Rohit pushed Varun Aaron straight to backward point. Travis Head fired at the striker's end and missed the stumps. He could have given himself a better chance had he paused for a second or two before throwing, since Rayudu was still barely halfway down the pitch. Rayudu's second-wicket stand with Rohit laid the platform for Mumbai's successful chase.