IPL 2021: Royal Challengers Bangalore get off to a great start with thrilling win over Mumbai Indians
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Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) got off to a winning start in the 2021 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as they got past defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. It was a welcome return home to India for the tournament which was held in the UAE last year after being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
Earlier, RCB won the toss and opted to field first, choosing to hand debuts to Glenn Maxwell, Dan Christian, Rajat Patidar and Kyle Jamieson. MI on the other hand opted to hand debuts to Chris Lynn due to the absence of the unavailable Quinton de Kock and Marco Jansen, the young and tall South African pacer.
IPL 2021 kicks off with a nail-biter
Put in to bat, MI got off to a steady start before they lost Rohit Sharma to a run-out. The likes of Chris Lynn, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan then came up with useful contributions to keep the scoreboard ticking. The two sides traded blows as RCB kept chipping in with wickets as well. In the end, MI imploded a bit as Harshal Patel came up with exceptional bowling at the death to end up with a five-wicket haul – the first ever against MI in IPL history.
In the chase, RCB opted to go for Washington Sundar as an opener to partner Virat Kohli but the move did not work as the former got dismissed after a struggling stay at the crease. Rajat Patidar couldn’t last long either. Kohli and Glenn Maxwell then put on a good partnership to keep RCB on course. MI then came roaring back by removing the duo and leaving AB de Villiers to deliver at the death.
And deliver he did as the South African showed no sign of rustiness despite playing his first competitive cricket game in over five months. He came up with big hits at regular intervals but he was run-out in the last over bowled by Jansen leaving Mohammed Siraj to get 2 runs in 2 balls. Siraj got a single leaving the fifer hero Harshal to get the winning run which he did to help RCB draw first blood.
Scores
MI innings
| Batsman | Mode of Dismissal | Runs | Balls |
| Rohit Sharma | run out (Kohli/Chahal) | 19 | 15 |
| Chris Lynn | c & b Sundar | 49 | 35 |
| Suryakumar Yadav | c de Villiers b Jamieson | 31 | 23 |
| Ishan Kishan | lbw b Harshal | 28 | 19 |
| Hardik Pandya | lbw b Harshal | 13 | 10 |
| Kieron Pollard | c Sundar b Harshal | 7 | 9 |
| Krunal Pandya | c Christian b Harshal | 7 | 7 |
| Marco Jansen | b Harshal | 0 | 2 |
| Rahul Chahar | run out (Kohli/de Villiers) | 0 | 0 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | not out | 1 | 2 |
Total – 159/9 in 20 overs
| Bowler | Over | Runs | Wickets |
| Mohammed Siraj | 4 | 22 | 0 |
| Kyle Jamieson | 4 | 27 | 1 |
| Yuzvendra Chahal | 4 | 41 | 0 |
| Shahbaz Ahmed | 1 | 14 | 0 |
| Harshal Patel | 4 | 27 | 5 |
| Dan Christian | 2 | 21 | 0 |
| Washington Sundar | 1 | 7 | 1 |
RCB innings
| Batsman | Mode of Dismissal | Runs | Balls |
| Washington Sundar | c Lynn b Krunal | 10 | 16 |
| Virat Kohli | lbw b Bumrah | 33 | 29 |
| Rajat Patidar | b Boult | 8 | 8 |
| Glenn Maxwell | c Lynn b Jansen | 39 | 28 |
| AB de Villiers | run out (Krunal/Kishan) | 48 | 27 |
| Shahbaz Ahmed | c Krunal b Jansen | 1 | 2 |
| Dan Christian | c Chahar b Bumrah | 1 | 3 |
| Kyle Jamieson | run out (Bumrah) | 4 | 4 |
| Harshal Patel | not out | 4 | 3 |
| Mohammed Siraj | not out | 0 | 1 |
Total – 160/8 in 20 overs
| Bowler | Overs | Runs | Wickets |
| Trent Boult | 4 | 36 | 1 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | 4 | 26 | 2 |
| Marco Jansen | 4 | 28 | 2 |
| Krunal Pandya | 4 | 25 | 1 |
| Rahul Chahar | 4 | 43 | 0 |
Also Read: IPL 2021: WATCH – Krunal Pandya’s bat gets broken by a Kyle Jamieson delivery; Twitter reacts
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Nevin Clinton
(2399 Articles Published)