IPL 2021 kicked off last night and in the MI VS RCB game, Harshal Patel and AB de Villiers helped RCB win the match by 2-wickets. The game was a nail biter with RCB needing just 1 run off the last ball. Meanwhile, MI, who has won the IPL trophy 5-times, went to the dressing room with their record of never winning its first IPL game still intact.
Being put to bat first, MI got off to a striking start with skipper Rohit Sharma looking in an impeccable vein hitting a six and a four in his short-lived 19-run inning. He was sent to the dressing room after a mix-up with Chris Lynn who was replacing de Kock. It all transpired during the 4th over when Chahal bowled a delivery that Lynn hit towards the cover region. Skipper Sharma who was looking forward to taking a run was called by his partner. But once Sharma took a few steps running towards the other end, Lynn backed out and sent him back. This blunder costed Sharma his wicket as he was captured by the cameras looking disappointed. Suryakumar Yadav came to the middle and hit a couple of boundaries himself, putting MI at a decent position by the end of the first powerplay at 41/1.
After the powerplay, Lynn continued his inning and gave a good foundation to his team thanks to his 49-run knock that had 4 fours and 3 maximums. The Australian opener hit RCB bowler Ahmed for a 4 and a 6 in the 7th over and then hit Harshal Patel in the very next over for another maximum. MI had already put its feet on the accelerator and it seemed like there was no stopping them. Seeing that there was no respite for bowlers, RCB skipper Kohli asked Washington Sundar to take the bowl and Sundar delivered. In the 13th over, Sundar took the wicket of Lynn out by making a great fielding effort (the youngster took a running catch).
After that, the inning came to a disappointing halt, as not a single player looked comfortable in the middle. RCB bowlers that were shown no mercy during their first spells, were now choking MI batsmen in the middle. Harshal Patel was the star of the game, coming strong after his first spell in which he gave away 15 runs. The second spell saw Patel delivering tight deliveries and giving away just 11 runs in 2 overs and scalping wickets of Hardik Pandya and Ishan Kishan. In the last over of the MI inning, Patel claimed 3 wickets and had MI reeling at 159/9.
With a manageable target of 160 runs, RCB initiated its inning with skipper Kohli. One interesting change came in the form of Washington Sundar opening alongside Kohli. Skipper Kohli batted on all 4-cylinders and hit some beautiful boundaries. However, Sundar on the other end struggled and his agonizing 16-ball inning came to the end when he tried to open his arms against Krunal Pandya. Sundar could only put 10 runs on the board. Sundar was followed by Rajat Patidar who came and went like a wind, only scoring 8 runs. By the end of the 6th over, RCB had put up 46 runs on the board with 2 wickets down.
Glen Maxwell, who was targeted by every cricket analyst for being inconsistent, looked to be in a rich form and played some glorious shots in the covers and extra-cover region. There was another mixup when Maxwell was batting as Kohli gave a call to take a run which the former denied. Thanks to a bad throw, Kohli came back to the crease safely before he could’ve been stranded for long.
However, the mix-up shook the confidence of the Indian skipper and his inning after that felt agonizingly slow. Seeing the change in the demeanor, Rohit Sharma gave Bumrah another over to ball and Bumrah struck gold, picking the wicket of Kohli in the 13th over. Kohli made 33 runs off 29 deliveries. In the 15th over, Maxwell became a victim of Marco Jansen’s delivery and Shahbaz Ahmed who came after Maxwell too threw his wicket away. RCB in no time were left whimpering at 106/5. The equation was soon set to RCB needing 34 runs in the last 3 overs.
But it was not all over for RCB as AB de Villiers was still in the middle of the chaos and started to get rolling. The South African batsman-wicketkeeper looked to be in fine form, hitting Bumrah on the first ball of the 19th over for a 4 and then hitting another uppercut on his ball for another boundry. However, wickets kept walling on the other end as Kyle Jamieson tried running a difficult run and got run-out.
In the last over, RCB needed only 7 runs to win, however, MI only needed 2 more wickets to end their curse of never winning a single IPL opener. The first 3 balls of the ultimate over saw only 4 runs coming off as debutant Marco Jansen held his nerves. ABD, who was looking at sealing the deal for his team also got run-out, making the game a nail-biter till the bitter end. The eventual equation was a nerve-wrecking one, with RCB needing just 1 run off the last ball and Harshal Patel on the strike. However, Harshal Patel managed to flick off the ball to fine leg and ran like the wind, taking his team to the victory.
IPL 2021 MI VS RCB Twitter Reaction:
What a start to the #IPL!
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 9, 2021
English not my strong suit. What’s the adjective for ‘better than genius’?
That’s what AB is! Really! 🙏🏼🙏🏼#RCBvsMI— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) April 9, 2021
Mumbai start on the right note, lose the first game of the tournament.
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) April 9, 2021
RCB is in danger, AB de Villiers be like😄 #MIvRCB #ABdeVilliers #RCB pic.twitter.com/oxDhAGtOS5
— CricTracker (@Cricketracker) April 9, 2021
Mumbai Indians have lost the first game of the season.
All other franchises:#MIvsRCB pic.twitter.com/o7pU9OoQ4a
— Manya (@CSKian716) April 9, 2021
Mumbai Indians losing the first match of the season #RCBvsMI pic.twitter.com/jjw5ldwjqr
— Sagar (@sagarcasm) April 9, 2021
What a Thrilling Victory !!
Especially Masterclass From Our Saviour @ABdeVilliers17#RCBvsMI pic.twitter.com/QeAeTML5c3
— RCB Trends™ (@TrendRCB) April 9, 2021
Le Mi fans watching Mumbai losing its first match #RcbvsMi pic.twitter.com/twvuo2M6wq
— Aniket suri🇮🇳 (@AniketSuri1) April 9, 2021