IPL 2021: RCB win last-ball thriller, MI’s season-opener defeat jinx continues

#ABdeVilliers #ChrisLynn #GlennMaxwell

Mumbai Indians struggled, reduced to a total of 158/8 by RCB pacer Harshal Patel who picked up five wickets
RCB, too, were slowed down in the mid-overs by Mumbai's bowling attack
The match dragged on to the very end, with Harshal Patel taking the last required run on the last ball of the innings

Written By:Ratul

Updated: April 09 2021 08:27:55 AM ET

Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday won their IPL season opener
against Mumbai Indians by a narrow two-wicket margin.

Batting first,
Mumbai Indians put up a total score of 159 for the loss of nine wickets.
Australian power hitter Chris Lynn (49 runs off 35 balls) and Suryakumar Yadav
(31 runs off 23 balls) were the highest scorers for the defending champions.

Among RCB bowlers,
Harshal Patel was clearly the shining star, as the right-arm pacer scalped a
fifer with the impressive figure of 5/27.

Also read: Harshal Patel: RCB’s wrecker-in-chief in IPL 2021 opener vs Mumbai Indians

Apart from Patel, Kyle Jamieson, the Bangalore-based franchise’s new
recruit, and Washington Sundar picked up one wicket each in the match.

The Mumbai Indians
batting line-up required an anchor innings, as after Krunal Pandya,
none of the batsmen were able to cross into double digits.

The top order
performance, too, seemingly missed some fine tuning, with experienced batters like
Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya being unable to stay on the
crease and add to the team’s total score.

Also read: Virat Kohli achieved another IPL milestone even before the toss, find out here

Royal Challengers
Bangalore, on the other hand, got off to a smooth start, but soon
tumbled, as Washington Sundar was sent packing by Krunal Pandya through a
clever delivery that saw the opener caught by Lynn.

Kohli, though
looking determined, departed after a score of 33 after Bumrah found his pad in front
of the wicket halfway through the chase. The dismissal broke up a 52-run partnership between Kohli and Glenn Maxwell (39) which really propelled RCB towards their
victory.

AB de Villiers took charge of the proceedings after both set batsmen departed, scoring 48 runs off 27 balls to put RCB on the brink of victory.

Also read: Who is Marco Jansen, South African pacer making his IPL debut against RCB?

For Mumbai, Jasprit Bumrah and new-South African fast bowling import Marco Jansen picked up two wickets each, whereas Trent Boult and Krunal Pandya picked up a wicket each.

The win for Bangalore, however, did not come easily as the match dragged on to the very end, when tail-ender Harshal Patel pushed the final ball of the innings – a yorker nonetheless – and secured the winning run.