Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis and his opening partner Virat Kohli inspired Royal Challengers Bangalore to an emphatic eight-wicket win with 22 balls to spare in their Tata Indian Premier League match against Mumbai Indians at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, on Sunday.
Mumbai had put on 171 for seven after being asked to bat first. RCB made light work of it and chased down the total at a canter. Mumbai have now lost every opening match since 2013.
Du Plessis (73 off 43) and Kohli (82 off 49) put on a masterclass on how to chase down a total in front of a packed Chinnaswamy Stadium. It was a perfect way to welcome RCB fans back to their home ground after three years of no IPL at the stadium.
For his well-executed innings of 73(43) and leading from the front, @faf1307 is the the Player of the Match ?? @RCBTweets begin their season in style and with a win against #MI ????#TATAIPL | #RCBvMI pic.twitter.com/XTifvXArBk
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 2, 2023
Tilak Varma's inspired knock was not enough to put the match out of the reach of RCB's marauding openers.
Varma put in a Herculean effort to lift the visitors to 171 for seven in 20 overs. The 20-year-old left-hander creamed eight fours and three sixes on his way to a brilliant 84 off 46 balls.
He needed better support. But, between RCB bowlers bowling in a disciplined manner and the sharp fielding, Mumbai were under insurmountable pressure from the first over.
Mohammed Siraj filled the void left by the unavailability of Josh Hazelwood due to injury by dictating terms during the PowerPlay.
Siraj, Reece Topley and Akash Deep Mumbai's backs against the ropes after six overs. Their disciplined bowling restricted Mumbai to a mere 29 for three after the PowerPlay.
RCB IN A HURRY
Unlike RCB's bowlers, Mumbai's bowling attack was on the back foot from the first over. Du Plessis and Kohli made their intentions clear by piling on 53 runs in the PowerPlay. A sharp contrast to Mumbai's labour, which produced 29 runs in the same period.
Du Plessis, the aggressor in the partnership, combined traditional cricket shots and innovation as he made his way to a 26th IPL half-century, his third against Mumbai.
It took him 29 balls to reach 50 runs. Shortly after Du Plessis's half-century, Kohli smashed a six to bring up the pair's third 100-run IPL partnership and their second as an opening pair.
For his part, Kohli needed 38 balls to bring up his 45th IPL half-century. Their partnership was broken by Arshad Khan with the dismissal of Du Plessis. However, it was too little too late. RCB needed 24 runs from 31 balls at that point.
For his chase-special of 82*(49), @imVkohli becomes our ?? performer in the second innings of the #RCBvMI contest in #TATAIPL ??
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 2, 2023
Take a look at his batting summary ?? pic.twitter.com/2KaArcBGiw
RCB were in a hurry to finish off the match, they had one eye on the net run rate, so they promoted Dinesh Karthik (0) to No 3.
The ploy did not work as hoped, but Glenn Maxwell (12 from 3) was at hand to deliver a few lusty blows and end the match in good time.
Despite not taking a single wicket, Piyush Chawla was the only Mumbai Indians bowler who managed to keep du Plessis and Kohli quiet for extended periods.
The spinner bowled out his four overs at an economy of 6.50 runs an over. Arshad Khan and Cameron Green took a wicket each at economies of 12 and 15 runs an over respectively.
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Glenn Maxwell, Michael Bracewell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik(w), Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Reece Topley, Mohammed Siraj
MUMBAI INDIANS: Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Cameron Green, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen, Piyush Chawla, Jofra Archer, Arshad Khan