Led by fifties from Phil Salt and Rajat Patidar, and a combined spell of 3/73 in 8 overs from Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya, RCB beat MI by 18 runs.
Before the 2025 season, RCB had last beaten MI at the Wankhede Stadium in 2015. On Sunday, the reigning champions made it two wins in two years at the venue to strengthen their place on the points table and leave MI precariously placed, following a third straight defeat in IPL 2026.
Salt-Patidar show
It is no secret that Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) rely heavily on their top order to set the tone, either batting first or second. If it was Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal in the initial matches, it was the turn of Phil Salt and captain Rajat Patidar to make the defining impact against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Sunday.
The Englishman had endured a mixed start to his season, but decided to bring out his best against the five-time champions. The most striking aspect of Salt’s 36-ball 78 was his destruction of spin. Mitchell Santner’s introduction from the Commentary Box End, in the fifth over, backfired as he took him apart for 22 runs, including three sixes on the leg-side, making full use of the shorter boundary.
Three overs later, Mayank Markhande came on from the far end. He was creamed for 19 runs, which included three boundaries, the first of which brought up his fifty in 25 balls. Two of which came towards point and cover, again towards the shorter side of the ground.
The RCB opener’s attacking approach meant Hardik Pandya had no option but to bring back his pacers sooner than he would have liked. The visitors blazed their way to 71/0 in the powerplay and 115/0 at the halfway mark.
It took the golden arm of Shardul Thakur to halt Salt’s stay in the 11th over. But his knock had set RCB on their way to a big score.
If MI thought that Salt’s dismissal would bring them respite, they were mistaken. Rajat Patidar promoted himself to number three and significantly upped the scoring rate. Markhande was reintroduced in the 12th over, and it was exactly what the RCB skipper – arguably the best player of spin in the league – needed to kickstart his innings.
Patidar smashed the leg-spinner for three sixes and a four, and forced Pandya to again resort to pace. Trent Boult was brought back to remove the RCB captain, but Patidar used the depth of the crease efficiently to pummel Boult for a four and a six