DUBAI - Three wickets in the space of one run wasn't enough to stop Royal Challengers Bangalore from securing their second straight win, a seven-wicket result condemning Mumbai Indians to their second defeat in as many matches. Nic Maddinson, Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh were sent back within six balls, but AB de Villiers and Parthiv Patel ensured no further damage as RCB were home with 2.3 overs to spare.
Lasith Malinga and Zaheer Khan gave MI the start they needed after being reduced to an underwhelming 115 for 9. Malinga bowled Maddinson [12, 8b, 2x4] with a swinging yorker before Zaheer had Kohli caught at slip and trapped Yuvraj lbw two balls later, both for ducks. Yuvraj had only survived his first ball when wicketkeeper Aditya Tare failed to latch onto a high chance.
Patel [57*, 45b, 7x4] and de Villiers [45*, 48b 3x4, 1x6], however, were seldom troubled as they played themselves in and took them home without much fuss, but had their own bowlers to thank for. Mitchell Starc, Varun Aaron and Yuzvendra Chahal shared six wickets between them to stifle MI, who could only manage 115 for 9.
They endured a stop-start trend throughout their innings after being put into bat, before imploding towards the end. Despite being reduced to 70 for 4 in the 12th over, Ambati Rayudu [35, 37b, 1x4] and Corey Anderson [18, 19b, 2x4] seemed to have revived their innings with a 31-run stand, but their dismissals off consecutive balls took out any chance of posting a competitive total.
Mike Hussey [16, 15b, 2x4] and Aditya Tare [17, 18b, 2x4] each benefited from a dropped chance but failed to capitalize as they perished to the same fielders who had dropped them. Hussey was put down in the first over by Chahal off Starc, but the fielder redeemed himself by taking the second chance he got.
Chahal was Man of the Match in RCB's opening game against Delhi Daredevils, his canny legspin proving once again to be the difference. His four overs cost just 17; that no boundaries came off him and included the wickets of Rohit Sharma [2] and Kieron Pollard [3] highlighted the quality of his bowling.
No sixes were hit in the MI innings, not only showing up the inefficacy of their batting but shedding light on the two-paced nature of the wicket at the Dubai Sports City stadium. Besides Hussey, every other batsman perished in an attempt to clear the ropes.

Scoreboard

MUMBAI:
MEK Hussey c Chahal b Morkel    16
AP Tare c Maddinson b Aaron    17
AT Rayudu c de Villiers b Starc    35
RG Sharma c de Villiers b Chahal    2
KA Pollard c Rana b Chahal    3
CJ Anderson c Kohli b Starc    18
Harbhajan Singh b Aaron    8
Z Khan c Rana b Dinda    0
SL Malinga run out    2
PP Ojha not out    1
JJ Bumrah not out    1
EXTRAS: (b 1, lb 3, w 7, nb 1)    12
TOTAL: (9 wickets; 20 overs)    115
FOW: 1-20, 2-52, 3-60, 4-70, 5-101, 6-101, 7-101, 8-110, 9-113
BOWLING: MA Starc 4-0-21-2, JA Morkel 3-0-23-1, VR Aaron 4-0-30-2, YS Chahal 4-0-17-2, AB Dinda 4-0-14-1, Yuvraj Singh 1-0-6-0
BANGALORE:
NJ Maddinson b Malinga    12
PA Patel not out    57
V Kohli c Harbhajan Singh b Khan    0
Yuvraj Singh lbw b Khan    0
AB de Villiers not out    45
EXTRAS: (lb 1, w 1)    2
TOTAL: (3 wickets; 17.3 overs)    116
FOW: 1-16, 2-17, 3-17
BOWLING: Z Khan 4-0-21-2, Harbhajan Singh 4-0-14-0, SL Malinga 3.3-0-29-1, JJ Bumrah 2-0-14-0, PP Ojha 4-0-37-0
TOSS: Bangalore
POTM: PA Patel (Bangalore)
UMPIRES: Aleem Dar (Pak), AK Chaudhary (Ind)
TV UMPIRE: VA Kulkarni (Ind)
MATCH REFEREE: GF Labrooy (SL)