The Royal Challengers Bengaluru jumped to the top of the table with a close win against the Mumbai Indians. But what were the hits and flops in this RCB vs MI game?
Today’s RCB vs MI game was Match 54 of IPL 2026. It was played at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Raipur, with the Royal Challengers team winning the toss and deciding to bowl first.
The Indians got off to a poor start, losing three wickets in the powerplay, all of which were taken by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The pair of Naman Dhir and Tilak Varma played decent innings, seeing the conditions, dragging their team to 166/7 in 20 overs.
In response, RCB lost three wickets in the powerplay too. But on the shoulders of a brilliant knock by Krunal Pandya, they came within striking distance of a win. But it took a six from Bhuvi on the first ball he played and a clutch double on the last ball for Bengaluru to win.
Today, we will discuss three hits and flops from the RCB vs MI game in IPL 2026 Match 54.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the undisputed MVP of this match. While he displayed his magic with the ball, surprisingly, he was also a hero with the bat.
Bhuvi, as usual, bowled the first over of the first inning. In that over, he got a lot of swing and movement off the pitch, ideal conditions for a master of swing like him. As a result, he only conceded four runs in that over and also dismissed Ryan Rickelton for just two off four.
After Rohit Sharma punished Josh Hazlewood in the second over, Kumar returned for the third. And while he was hit for a boundary, he only gave away six runs in that over and got the wicket of a dangerous-looking Rohit on the fifth ball.
Then, before the over ended, he got a second wicket in as many balls, dismissing stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav for a golden duck. Bhuvneshwar bowled yet another over in the powerplay. And while he did not take any wickets in this one, he also conceded just seven runs.
The veteran pacer’s last over on the night came in the 18th. This was a crucial over, as Tilak Varma, after scoring a 50, was still on strike. In this over, not only did he give away just six runs, but he also clean bowled Tilak, dismissing MI’s highest scorer on the night.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar ended his four-over spell with the impressive figures of 4/23 with an economy of 5.75.
But the night was not over for him. After RCB crawled to a difficult position, Bhuvi came in to bat. At the moment he came to strike, the Royal Challengers needed 10 runs in three balls. After a wide, the equation was nine off three. But Kumar was about to remind everyone why many considered him an all-rounder back in his heyday, as he hit a six on his first legal delivery.
He then took a single on his next delivery, leaving two runs for Rasikh Salam on the final ball, which he made.
For his incredible spell and clutch cameo with the bat, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was named the Player of the Match.
Check Out: RCB Vs MI, Match 54.
In Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s title-winning season, Krunal Pandya played a massive role with the ball. But this also meant that some fans started seeing him as a bowler or a bowling all-rounder. The “other” Pandya, in the last couple of games, has been reminding everyone why his batting skills should be equally cherished. First came his quickfire 28 off 16 against LSG in the last game, and then his innings against MI.
Krunal started the match with the ball tonight. His three overs on the night came during the Tilak Varma-Naman Dhir partnership. So he did not take any wickets in his game. But he did control the flow of runs against two attacking batters. He conceded just 26 runs in three overs at an economy of 8.67.
Pandya’s exploits tonight came with the bat. RCB started this low-but-tricky chase poorly. The entire top order was lost for cheap, and even the in-form skipper, Rajat Patidar, was dismissed quickly tonight.
Krunal Pandya walked in to bat at No. 5, ahead of the likes of Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, and Romario Shepherd. By the time he arrived at the crease, the score was 39/3 in 5.1 overs.
The veteran all-rounder, seeing the situation, started cautiously. By the end of the 10th over, he and Jacob Bethell took the score to 74/3. Pandya was personally batting at 25 off 18 at this point.
But soon after Bethell’s dismissal for a run-a-ball 27 at the start of the 13th over, Krunal changed gear. He and Jitesh Sharma took the Mumbai bowling attack head-on.
The 35-year-old reached his half-century in 32 deliveries. And after Jitesh was dismissed in the 16th over after hitting two consecutive sixes, followed by Tim David getting out for a golden duck, the all-rounder put the pedal to the metal.
At the end of the 17th over, Bengaluru needed 30 off three. Pandya immediately eased the equation for his team with two sixes on the trot. However, in looking to end the game early, he got out at the end of that over, but not before making 73 off 46.
Not only was this the absolute best innings in this low-scoring game, but it also put RCB in a situation from where they could win the game, which they did, however scruffy that win might have been.
Corbin Bosch’s bowling was one of the very few highlights for the Mumbai Indians in this game. The South African very nearly won his team the match with the leather in his hand.
Bosch came into the attack in the final over of the powerplay, the sixth. And on the first ball of the over, RCB captain Rajat Patidar was caught behind for a run-a-ball eight. And while Bosch was hit for a six later in the over, he conceded just eight.
He bowled his second over right after in the eighth and gave away just five runs, bowling solid lines and troubling the batters.
He was then taken off the attack and brought in in the 13th. And again, on the first ball of the over, he got a wicket, this time dismissing Jacob Bethell, who had settled in and scored 27 runs by this point. This was also a wicket maiden by the all-rounder, the first one for MI this season.
His final over came right before the death overs in the 16th. His team needed him to take some wickets. But instead, the Protea was hit for two sixes. Except that the over was still not finished, and Bosch made a comeback with back-to-back wickets of Jitesh Sharma and Tim David, the latter being a golden duck. Any one of these two batters can do it single-handedly.
Corbin Bosch’s four-over spell was his best one in the IPL. His figures were 4/26, and he had an economy of 6.5.
Check Out: RCB Vs MI, Match 54.
RCB had to chase 167 to win this game. And while this is not a massive target, especially in IPL 2026, it was bound to be a tricky chase, seeing how the pitch played in the first innings.
But RCB also has a phenomenal top order, and it was expected of them to take their team home comprehensively. That, however, did not happen.
Virat Kohli was out for a golden duck in the very first over by Deepak Chahar. Chahar then took his second wicket in his second over, dismissing Devdutt Padikkal for 12 off 11. Then, before the powerplay ended, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru lost their third wicket, and this was a big one. In came captain Rajat Patidar, who eats such situations for breakfast, and was out for a run-a-ball eight in the fifth over. RCB had lost a chunk of their incredible batting order in the powerplay itself.
Left on the pitch was opener Jacob Bethell, who, seeing wickets fall at the other end, was playing quite cautiously, facing the barrage of the MI pacers.
Bethell formed a decent partnership with Krunal Pandya. The two batted for seven overs together and made 55 runs. The Englishman got out in the 13th over after making 27 off 27.
So while at least one of the RCB top four scored some runs, he did score while struggling for over 12 overs on the pitch, and his innings left the middle order to clean up the mess made by the top order.
The Mumbai Indians came into this game already out of the race for the playoffs. They are playing for bragging rights at this point. In the past, we have seen teams at the bottom of the table ruin the chances of teams at the top.
MI did not do that today. Coming in to bat first, while the pitch was a difficult one, their big-name batters failed to perform tonight.
Ryan Rickelton, who has been MI’s highest run scorer in IPL 2026, got out in the very first over for two off four.
Then came the double whammy in this over. First, Rohit Sharma, who was looking incredibly dangerous, dispatched Josh Hazlewood in the Aussie’s first over.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who took Rickelton’s wicket in the first over, dismissed Rohit on the fifth ball of the third. The former Indian cricket team captain was out for 22 off 10. Then, on the final ball of the over, Bhuvi got the wicket of the current Indian captain in T20Is, dismissing Suryakumar Yadav for a golden duck.
The young duo of Tilak Varma and Naman Dhir made 114 of Mumbai’s 166 runs tonight. Will Jacks failed with the bat too, making just 10 runs. The fact that only two batters made any runs for the Indians tonight, and their big-name players failed, means that they should have made a bigger total in this game.
After a tough start to the innings, the Mumbai Indians bounced back with a 72-run partnership between Naman Dhir and Tilak Varma for the fourth wicket. However, after Dhir’s wicket in the 13th over, the team could not build upon the solid middle phase in their innings.
At the end of the 15th over, the score was 131/4, with Tilak Varma and Will Jacks on the crease. The two were capable of taking their team to a 180+ score, if not to 200. That would have been beyond a winning total on this challenging pitch.
But what did happen was Jacks losing his wicket a couple of balls later, getting out for a one-ball 10. This left Varma, batting at 45 off 35 at this point, an opportunity to pick the pace up and take the Indians to a decent score.
While Tilak did reach his half-century in 37 balls, he did not accelerate after reaching the milestone. Instead, he lost his wicket at the end of the 18th over, being dismissed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar for 57 off 42.
At the other end, bowling all-rounder Raj Bawa seemed to be struggling. He would get out at the end of the 19th for 16 off 14. Corbin Bosch made five runs in as many deliveries, and Deepak Chahar scored a single run in two balls.
As a result, in the last five overs, MI only managed to make 35 runs. The situation was even more dire in the final two overs, where only 11 runs were made. Seeing how close this game was, one can only wonder if Mumbai had scored only 10 more runs at the death, what would the match result have been?
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