Vinay Kumar steals the limelight

R Vinay Kumar removed Sachin Tendulkar, Dwayne Bravo and Ambati Rayudu in one over to turn a cat-and-mouse game until then unmistakably Royal Challengers' way, also taking them to the top of the table. He benefited in part from the pressure created by his team-mates' smart swing bowling, changes of pace, bouncers to Indian batsmen, and aggressive spin bowling by Anil Kumble. It was a fitting reversal of roles for a man used to being among the top wicket-takers in Indian domestic cricket, and then watching others steal the spotlight - not the least when his state-mate Abhimanyu Mithun made his international debut ahead of him after just one season of impressive numbers.

Bangalore's opening bowlers and Jacques Kallis followed a nasty plan to keep Mumbai down: bounce the Indian batsmen out. Vinay followed the bouncer theme, and got Ambati Rayudu at the start of his third over. Yet despite the success against the domestic batsmen, it was an international, Sachin Tendulkar, who was causing Bangalore the maximum trouble.

Tendulkar played the flick shot at will, and manipulated the on-side field, but in nine overs he had faced only 21 deliveries. The 22nd that he faced, he tried to flick again, moved too far across and exposed the leg stump. If this was a slightly lucky wicket for Vinay, there was no luck involved in the pin-point offcutter that removed Bravo two balls later. In 10 balls Mumbai had gone from 71 for 2 to 76 for 6, in 11 overs. It only needed sensible play in the rest of the night for Bangalore to complete a comprehensive win.