In the season opener of the IPL 2021, Royal Challengers Bangalore bagged a narrow win against title-holders Mumbai Indians on Friday after a pivotal knock from AB de Villiers. However, skipper Virat Kohli was all praises for the uncapped Indian pacer Harshal Patel, terming him their designated death bowler in this edition of the IPL after he picked up 5 for 27 in the innings.  

RCB were able to restrict MI to 159/9 owing to Patel’s spell, which is something that even losing captain Rohit Shama admitted.

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“We brought Harshal in a trade from Delhi. He is relishing the responsibility and is clear with his plans. He was the difference today. He is going to be our death bowler. As a captain you want players with clarity, and he has that,” Kohli said at the post-match press conference, PTI reported.

Coming to de Villiers’ knock of 48 off 27 balls, Kohli said “the opposition gets nervous about” the South African.

“We have depth in the batting which we want to utilize. AB is probably the only one in the team who is so versatile. And he does it on slow wickets what not many can do.”

Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians kept their infamous record of not winning their opening match in the IPL since 2013 intact, when they beat Chennai Super Kings.

However, MI captain Rohit said he wouldn’t mind losing another opening game as long as his team goes on to win the tournament, but admitted that they were 20 runs short.

“Winning the championship is important, I guess, not the first game. It was a great fight and we didn’t let it go easily. Although the score wasn’t something we were happy with. We were 20 short,” Rohit said.

“We made some mistakes, those are bound to happen. We need to move on. When you look at the situation with four overs left they had AB and Christian, that’s why we went with Bumrah and Boult to try and get them out.

“Definitely not an easy pitch to bat on, the odd ball was gripping,” he said, as per PTI inputs.

Sharma also lauded the innings from de Villiers.

“De Villiers batted really well and got them home. We haven’t had much time together as a group and it was totally opposite in Dubai, where we began preparations a month before,” Rohit said.

However, the skipper didn’t want to give any excuses for the defeat.

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“… But that’s how the IPL has been played over the years, you just got to get in the game as quickly as possible. It can be difficult for teams that have great home records, but that is what sport is, you’ve got to go away and win. We are fortunate that we’re even on the park.”

De Villiers, whose exploits won the game for RCB, was also very pleased with his effort.

“It was an incredible game of cricket, always seems to be against Mumbai. We obviously came in knowing it wasn’t going to be easy. I knew halfway it was going to get tough, it’s one of those pitches that gets harder as the game goes on,” the swashbuckling South African said.