Royal Challengers Bangalore kickstart their 2023 IPL campaign with a bang as they defeat five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians on homecoming after three long years.
Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis exhibited clean striking and classical stroke play as Royal Challengers Bangalore are off to a resounding win in their first game at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore after three long years.
A perfect team effort to kick start their season as their maiden IPL title gets underway.
RCB captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bowl first. Mumbai Indians openers struggled against Mohmmad Siraj’s swing.
Siraj got rid of Ishan Kishan, and Reece Topley cleaned up Cameron Green for 5 runs on his IPL debut. Rohit Sharma edged one to Dinesh Karthik in the 5th over.
Ishan Kishan, Cameron Green and captain of Mumbai Indians Rohit Sharma couldn’t make any impact and were done & dusted in the powerplay. Mumbai Indians were in deep trouble at the end of six overs.
Suryakumar Yadav couldn’t make his impact either as he struggled to time the ball and eventually fell for Micheal Bracewell, cutting one straight to the point fielder for 15 runs.
Tilak Verma Plays a blinder of an innings
Young left-hand batter Tilak Verma playing his 2nd IPL season got off to a blistering start smashing Akash deep to get his innings going. Verma was middling the ball and looked to be in great form. With his team in trouble at the halfway mark, he took the responsibility and stabilised the innings in the middle overs alongside another youngster Nikhil Wadhera.
Wadhera and Tilak Verma added 50 runs to the 5th wicket. Wadhera hit back-to-back sixes in the 14th over of Karn Sharma before perishing in the same over trying to make it three sixes in a row.
The hard-hitting Tim David after an impressive IPL 2022 was cleaned up by Karn Sharma for 4 runs. Tilak Verma was left with no support at the other end.
The youngster scored game-changing 84 runs in 46 balls powering Mumbai Indians to a fighting total of 171/ 7 in their 20 overs.
Kohli, Faf du Plessis Juggernaut Powers RCB home
Royal Challengers Bangalore after restricting Mumbai Indians to 171 runs got off to a great start. Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis took the attack to Mumbai Indians bowlers.
Faf du Plessis after a fine outing in SAT20 lit up the Chinnaswamy Stadium smashing two consecutive sixes in the 3rd over laying the foundation for the chase.
Jofra Archer on his comeback to IPL was welcomed back by Virat Kohli with a late cut down to the third man for a four. Kohli in the same over danced down the track smashing Archer for a flat six straight down the ground as the crowd erupted.
Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis gave no chance to the Mumbai Indians bowlers. It was a visual treat to the fans. Kohli and Faf du Plessis added 148 runs in 14.5 overs for the first wicket.
Faf du Plessis after scoring the match-winning 73 runs in 43 balls mistimes one to Tim David at long-on. Dinesh Karthik comes out to bat but perishes for a duck giving Arshad Khan a wicket.
Glenn Maxwell smashed back-to-back sixes before the chase master finishes it off in style with a six-over long-on to cap off a dominating win.
Faf du Plessis was awarded the player of the match award for his match-winning 73 and a blinder of catch in the field.
Takeaways from the game
RCB: The bowling performance of RCB was top-notch on a high-scoring ground. The form of Virat Kohli & Faf du Plessis is a huge positive. The injury of Reece Topley is a big setback for them.
Mumbai Indians: The emergence of Tilak Verma. The batting order looks inexperienced, the bowling unit looks ineffective. Rohit Sharma will have to step up and take responsibility at the top.
Post-Match Interview ( Source: Cricbuzz)
Faf du Plessis : My first time playing here as a home player and it’s a special player, especially batting with Virat Kohli. Energy bounces off him. You have to stay with the youngsters, I still work hard to be able to move around like I could in the young days. The confidence this gives, all of us are confident players. This start will be huge for us as a team.
Rohit Sharma: Didn’t have a great start with the bat in the first six overs. But, it was a really good effort from Tilak and a few other batters. But, we didn’t execute well with the ball. The other guys in the setup are quite talented as well. We need to give them that support. Just the first game of the season, there’s a lot to look forward
