The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) won their third consecutive match in the Tata IPL tournament on Saturday, defeating the Mumbai Indians (MI) by 7 wickets at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.

After restricting MI to 151-6, Anuj Rawat's confident 66 (47) at the top enabled RCB to bring down the mark with 9 deliveries to spare. Chasing 152, RCB openers Faf du Plessis and Anuj Rawat began cautiously in response to the MI pacers' strong start.

RCB chased down a 151-run target with ease, losing just three wickets. RCB decided to bowl first after winning the toss and the skipper, Faf du Plessis's calculation of bowling first was justified by his bowlers as they restricted MI to just 151 runs.

The RCB’s chase was not good as they lost skipper du Plessis' wicket early. The skipper failed to shine in the match as he departed for just 16 runs, though he established a 50-run partnership with Anuj Rawat for the first wicket.

It was Virat Kohli and Rawat who built a crucial 80-run partnership for the second wicket. After Kohli departed for 48 runs, Dinesh Karthik and Glenn Maxwell ensured that RCB crossed the victory line without losing any further wickets.

Batting first, MI struggled to post a big total. Both openers, Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma, stitched a partnership of 50 runs, but they failed to inflate the partnership, Kishan and Rohit went to the pavilion, scoring 26 runs each. The next batsmen, Dewal Brevis and Tilak Varma, did not contribute much.

It was Suryakumar Yadav whose 68 runs helped Mumbai post a respectable score. Kieron Pollard failed to score runs; he scored a duck.

For RCB, Wanindu Hasaranga shined with the bowling, picking up two wickets. Pacer Harshal Patel’s good form continued as he scalped two wickets, while Akash Deep took a wicket.