As we come closer and closer to the business end of the season, the only thing that the Mumbai Indians really needed to sort out was the form of their skipper Rohit Sharma. Well, up against a cannot-buy-a-win Royal Challengers Bangalore and with the Wankhede crowd cheering him on during a close chase, Rohit brought all the elegance and class to the fore to guide the Mumbai Indians to their eighth win of IPL 2017.
Asked to bowl first, the Mumbai Indians kept RCB to 162, and while the chase should have been a lot more straightforward after the start given by Jos Buttler, Rohit (56 n.o., 37b, 6x4, 1x6) made sure there would no need for another Super Over, by playing a captain's innings and taking MI to a win in the final over.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore, already out of contention for a place in the playoffs and without Chris Gayle again, suffered their eighth defeat of the season.
MI's chase began in the worst possible manner when Parthiv Patel fell off the first ball of the innings to Aniket Choudhary.
From there, though, it was one-way traffic as Buttler took over, with Nitish Rana giving the MI opener good company at the other end.
After getting the Mumbai Indians to 55 in the Powerplay overs, Buttler (33, 21b, 4x4, 1x6) gave his wicket away when he drove one off Pawan Negi, one of RCB's bright spots in this game, straight to Travis Head at extra cover.
In Negi's next over, it was Rana's (27, 28b, 4x4) turn to give his wicket away, with Head again taking the catch, this time a really nice one at deep midwicket.
What Buttler's innings did, however, was set the chase up nicely, and with the strength in depth that the Mumbai Indians have in their batting, they were always going to be favourites, with RCB needing something really special from their bowlers in the second half of the innings.
The equation at the halfway stage read 89 from 60 balls, with Rohit, who became the fourth player to get to 4000 IPL runs, and Kieron Pollard at the crease.
Rohit, who hasn't been in the greatest of form in IPL 2017, looked good the moment he came in, and when Rohit is in form, he is a difficult man to stop.
RCB, though, kept plugging away with the spinners, with Yuzvendra Chahal this time picking up a wicket when Kieron Pollard (17, 13b, 2x4) gave a catch to deep midwicket – yup, it was Head again.
And then, Krunal Pandya, who had injured his hip while fielding when he landed on the ball, came and walked back quickly, unable to continue on – it did look a little overdramatic to be honest, and a proper hard-nosed cricketer would have shook his head in despair at how quickly Krunal gave it in.
That left MI a lot thinner in batting resources, with the responsibility even more on the captain Rohit to take his team home. He took on that responsibility with aplomb, barely putting a foot wrong to take MI to that eight win mark, which more often than not, guarantees a place in the playoffs.
The RCB innings, this time, was better, but far from what they can manage if they hit top gear.
At least this one wasn't stuck in first, and found the third gear every now and then, with Virat Kohli hitting a couple of nice shots early on along with Mandeep Singh.
The two put on 31 in three-and-a-half overs, before Mandeep (17, 13b, 3x4) holed out off Karn Sharma, who was in the MI XI for the injured Harbhajan Singh.
Kohli looked like his old self for a couple of shots, one a beautiful pick up that soared over long-on, but for the most part, it did look like he was trying a little too hard.
Mitchell McClenaghan was the one to pick up the RCB skipper, with the slower ball catching Kohli (20, 14b, 2x6) off guard and the ball lobbing up to Rohit at midwicket.
AB De Villiers came in and immediately looked in the mood, making a concerted attempt to take on the bowlers. He started with a four and a six off McClenaghan, both through the offside.
Krunal, the man who had had De Villiers' number over the past couple of seasons was immediately brought on to try and get the big wicket, but the great man, aware of that tactic, took on the left-arm spinner.
After a few boundaries, the Wankhede crowd, so hostile for the opposition most of the time, started the "ABD, ABD" chant, but the South African could not quite carry on and play a special innings, with Krunal eventually getting his wicket, a ball after De Villiers (43, 27b, 3x4, 3x6) had spanked one over backward square for a six.
Head (12, 15b, 1x4) had also fallen a couple of overs before, and with Shane Watson (3, 5b) failing with the bat again, RCB were in a precarious position one more time at 108/5.
The Royal Challengers, though, finally strung together a half-century partnership, courtesy Kedar Jadhav (28, 22b, 2x4) and Negi (35, 23b, 1x4, 3x6), who counter-attacked the MI death bowlers really well to give RCB some sort of chance.
MI vs RCB: IPL 2017 scorecard:
Toss: RCB, who chose to bat.
RCB: 162/8 in 20 overs.
MI: 165/5 in 19.5 overs.
Result: MI won by five wickets with one ball remaining.
Bowling: MI: Mitchell McClenaghan 4-0-34-3; Lasith Malinga 4-0-31-0; Hardik Pandya 1-0-5-0; Karn Sharma 3-0-23-1; Jasprit Bumrah 4-0-33-1; Krunal Pandya 4-0-34-2.
RCB: Aniket Choudhary 4-0-32-1; Yuzvendra Chahal 4-0-36-1; Adam Milne 2-0-29-0; S Aravind 2-0-21-0; Shane Watson 3.5-0-28-1; Pawan Negi 4-0-17-2.
Fall of wickets: RCB: 31/1, Mandeep Singh (3.4 overs); 40/2, Virat Kohli (5.1 overs); 85/3, Travis Head (10.3 overs); 102/4, AB De Villiers (12.2 overs); 108/5, Shane Watson (13.4 overs); 162/6, Pawan Negi (19.4 overs); 162/7, Kedar Jadhav (19.5 overs); 162/8, S Aravind (20 overs).
MI: 0/1, Parthiv Patel (0.1 overs); 61/2, Jos Buttler (7.3 overs); 70/3, Nitish Rana (9.2 overs); 98/4, Kieron Pollard (13 overs); 130/5, Karn Sharma (16.3 overs).
