Nehal Wadhera Six. (Photo Source : Jio Cinema)
While chasing a target of 200 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Match 54 of the ongoing Indian Premier League 2023, Mumbai Indians’ newest batting sensation Nehal Wadhera hit a maximum in the 11th over that ended up hitting the Tata Tiago EV on display.
As a result, a charity of rupees five lakhs would be made to the welfare of coffee plantation, as per the norm. Tata has been official sponsors of the IPL for a long time and right at the onset of the tournament, it was announced by the conglomerate that everytime a ball hits the car, a sum of five lakhs would be forwarded to coffee plantations in Karnataka to increase the diversity by planting saplings.
After both the openers fell in quick succession to Wanindu Hasaranga, Wadhera joined hands with Suryakumar Yadav to drive MI’s chase. Hasaranga dismissed both the openers, Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan, within the span of two balls in the fifth over. Following that, Wadhera and Yadav came together to stich a partnership of 140 runs over just 64 deliveries to guide MI to a much-needed victory.
Wadhera’s steady knock was complemented by Yadav’s destruction, as the 32-year-old hammered seven fours and six sixes to bring up 83 runs in just 35 deliveries, with an incredible strike rate of 237.14.
On the other hand, Wadhera remained unbeaten to help MI get past RCB’s score of 199. He scored 52 runs off 34 deliveries, which included four fours and three sixes.
Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell’s heroics in vain
In the first innings, RCB lost their star batter Virat Kohli early on in the innings and was eyeing a disastrous outing before being bailed out by skipper Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell. Both du Plessis and Maxwell took on the MI bowlers with sheer dominance, and fired on all cylinders to accelerate RCB’s innings, after the team had lost two wickets on just 16 runs.
In the 120-run stand that brewed between the two batters, Maxwell starred with a 33-ball-68, amassed at an explosive strike rate of over 206. His innings included eight fours and four sixes. Du Plessis, on the other hand, hit five fours and three sixes to score 65 runs off 41 deliveries. A handy cameo from Dinesh Karthik down the order helped RCB put 199 runs on the board.