Picture : BCCI / IPL
In the big match face -off Royal Challengers Bangalore in front of their vociferous crowd support in Bengaluru beat five-time IPL winners Mumbai Indians by 8 wickets.
Asked to bat first by RCB skipper Faf du Plessis , Mumbai Indians got off to a horror start . India and Mumbai Indians Captain who had talked of workload before the tournament looked disinterested in scratchy 10 ball 1. Ishan Kishan fell for 10 . Big signing and Big Aussie all- rounder Cameron Green fell for mere 5 . Suryakumar Yadav ( 15 ), Tim David ( 4) Mumbai were in tatters. Fortunately Tilak Varma played a gem of an unbeaten innings of 84 ( 46 balls , 9 fours , 4 sixes) and good support from unknown Nehal Wadhera ( 21 ) saved Mumbai from disaster as they reach 171/ 7 in their 20 overs. Giving them bowlers something to bowl at.
For RCB bowling figures read : Mohammed Siraj 1/ 21 ( 4 overs) , Reece Topley 1/ 14 ( 2 overs) , Akash Deep 1/ 30 ( 3 overs) , Harshal Patel 1/ 43 ( 4 overs) , Karn Sharma 2/ 32 ( 4 overs), Michael Bracewell 1/ 16 ( 2 overs) , Glenn Maxwell 0/16 ( 1 over)
On what looked like a fighting total by Mumbai Indians, The RCB in reply made a mockery of the total . Skipper Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli came out with all guns blazing to rattle Mumbai Indians . They were unstoppable . The duo hammered the Mumbai Indians bowlers all – round the stadium in their superb opening stand . The in- fact batted Mumbai Indians out of the game . Faf du Plessis scored a fine 73 ( 43 balls , 5 fours, 6 sixes) , Dinesh Karthik though fell for 0 . Virat Kohli on the other was in imperious form . The ‘King Is Back’ at Bengaluru posters were seen all over the stadium at Chinaswamy and the master did not let his fans down. Kohli remained unbeaten with a sterling 82 ( 49 balls, 6 fours 5 sixes. Glenn Maxwell with two big sixes not out 12 was with Kohli to see RCB home . RCB reaching 172/ 2 in 16. 2 overs.
Mumbai Indians bowling : Jason Behrendorff 0/ 37 ( 3 overs) , Arshad Khan 1/ 28 ( 2.2 overs) , The big name Jofra Archer 0/ 33 ( 4 overs), Piyush Chawla 0/ 26 ( 4 overs) , Cameron Green 1/ 30 ( 2 overs)
Match: IPL 2023, 5th Match
Venue: Bengaluru | Date: April 02, 2023
