Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) got off to a flying start in their Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign, beating Mumbai Indians by eight wickets with 22 balls to spare here on Sunday, riding on impressive half-centuries from veteran Virat Kohli and skipper Faf Duplesey. RCB had a challenging target of 172 runs but Kohli (82 not out off 49 balls, six fours, five sixes) and Du Plessis (73 off 43 balls, five fours, six sixes) put on 148 runs for the first wicket. Left no stone unturned to prove the dwarf.
RCB easily won by scoring 172 runs for two wickets in 16.2 overs. After losing the toss, Mumbai’s score was 20 for three in the sixth over, coming out to bat first. Left-handed batsman Tilak Verma single-handedly took charge from here and scored an unbeaten 84 off 46 balls which included nine fours and four sixes. Verma shared an unbroken 50-run partnership with Nehal Wadhera (21 off 13 balls) for the fifth wicket and 48 off 17 balls with Arshad Khan (15 not out off 9 balls) for the seventh wicket. But reached 171 runs.
RCB started well in front of a challenging target and scored 53 runs without loss in the powerplay. Du Plessis hit impact player Jason Behrendorff for two consecutive sixes while Kohli welcomed Jofra Archer with fours and sixes. Duplessy forced Rohit Sharma to think by hitting two fours and then a six on Cameron Green. Duplessy hit Hrithik Shokeen for two consecutive sixes. With the first of these sixes, he completed his 26th half-century in IPL off 29 balls.
Kohli then hit Piyush Chawla for a six in the 11th over to take the score past 100 runs. He completed his half-century off 38 balls which is his 50th fifty in IPL. Kohli then showed off his long shot skills by hitting Archer and Arshad Khan for sixes. Arshad had Duplessy caught at long on but by then it was too late. Dinesh Karthik could not even open the account. Green took his wicket.
Glenn Maxwell (12 not out) hit Green for two consecutive sixes while Kohli hit the winning six off Arshad. Earlier, RCB bowlers bowled well in the beginning but they conceded 109 runs in the last nine overs. In front of the tight bowling of Siraj (1/21 in four overs), Mumbai had a very disappointing start and his team could manage only 29 runs in the power play and lost three wickets in the meantime.
Siraj conceded only five runs in his first three overs as Ishan Kishan (10) gave RCB their first breakthrough. At the other end, Reece Topley and Akashdeep gave him full support. Topley bowled Cameron Green (five) while Akashdeep caught captain Rohit Sharma behind the wicket. Rohit was able to score only one run despite facing 10 balls. Mumbai scored 20 runs for three wickets. Suryakumar Yadav’s poor form continued as he failed to open the account in all three ODIs against Australia.
He scored 15 off 16 balls before being caught at backward point by off-spinner Michael Bracewell. Mumbai’s score was 55 for four after 10 overs. Verma, however, kept Mumbai’s hopes alive. He hit Akashdeep for the first six in the last over of the power play and then welcomed Glenn Maxwell for sixes and fours in the 12th over. Taking inspiration from him, Wadhera, playing his first T20 match, hit leg-spinner Karn Sharma (2 for 32) for two consecutive sixes.
The second six of these went 101 meters, which also completed the 50-run partnership between these two players. The left-handed batsman, however, was caught by Kohli at long-on in an attempt to hit the third six. Tim David (four runs off seven balls) also did not live up to his reputation and was bowled in an attempt to sweep Karn’s ball. Verma completed his half-century off 32 balls by hitting Akashdeep for a six over deep square leg. Siraj did not let his bowling analysis remain attractive by taking five wides in his last over. Verma also hit two fours in his over. Arshad and Verma hit a six each in the last over of Harshal Patel’s innings to collect 22 runs.
