In a thrilling start to IPL 2021 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, pacer Patel’s 5 for 27 restricted MI to 159 for 9. RCB stuttered in their chase, but not for the first time, De Villiers lifted them with a brilliant knock of 48 off 27 balls.
RightRight then! A nail-biter to start off the most exciting T20 tournament in world cricket. Certainly didn't seem like it would go down to the wire. Mumbai Indians started and stuttered throughout their innings.
Lynn and SKY cruised through the middle overs to set a solid platform for the firepower in the middle order, which had rare blip today. Harshal Patel was the star of the show, with a fifer to his name as RCB did a commendable job to restrict Mumbai Indians to 159.
Virat Kohli started off like he always does, like a Corolla, but couldn't finish off like a Ferrari today. His partnership with the Big Show had taken the game away from MI, before RCB did what they always do. Another choke was on the cards for the men in red, but their savior, AB de Villiers managed to hold his nerve. The veteran couldn't see his side over the line though, and fittingly, the winning runs came from the bat of Harshal Patel.
A day to remember for the man who returned to RCB. He couldn't have dreamt of a better return. With Kohli stating that he will be their death bowler in the tournament, he could be in for a pivotal IPL as an individual. MI's wretched record of losing the first game continues. RCB should be proud as they've corrected a massive historic weakness in their death bowling tonight. Mumbai won't be too worried. They treat their initial games as warm up matches and will look to bounce back with a win soon enough.
The one and a half month long cricketcricket frenzy got off to a ideal start with an absolute humdinger of a game. Both sides will feel they have significant departs to improve on, but RCB will gladly take the victory. A long way to go in the tournament. Let's hope this was just a bit of a preview! That's it for now though! This is Pratyush Rohra, signing off on behalf of my co-commentator, Shashwat Kumar. Do tune in to Sportskeeda for tomorrow's game, when the master takes on the apprentice. Until then, goodnight and take care, see ya!
Harshal Patel, Man of the Match : Absolutely happy to be back in RCB. When they traded me they told me I was going to be an important part of the team and my role was going to be bowling in the death. That is something that I have worked on for a couple of years, glad to showcase my abilities. Happy to be here and with the faith they have shown in me. I was just focused on my execution and the most important thing was to make the most of my momentum. This is my first fifer in 98 T20s and the fact that it has come against a team like MI makes it all the more special.
I have been working a lot on my yorker. I have become confident at bowling at different stage in the game. I was always good at the length balls and slower balls. I wanted to be a bowler who takes on responsibility and that's something I have been working on for the last couple of years.Virat Kohli : It was important to play against the strongest side in the competition, and that's been the case for years. We got a chance to test our strength against a very strong time. We got off to a good start.
Everyone got into the game early on and that's always a good sign. The two practice games mean everyone got some game time, and that really helped me as a captain. The pitch was looking decent in the first half. I thought the dew might help. As the ball got older, it got a little slower. That's when the partnerships between myself and Maxwell and then Maxwell and AB became crucial, with AB finishing things off, like he invariable does. Playing here we have to understand the conditions really well. It's not a place where you can just hit through the line, we have to keep more respectful of the conditions and keep the strike rotating. The shot that Pollard got out to, in most grounds it would've sailed into the crowds. We adapted to the conditions and came back really, using the conditions well. They came back well too, after losing Rohit early and those last six overs for us were probably the best six we've ever had with Harshal bowling beautifully. We brought him in a trade from Delhi. He wasn't getting game time there and we were very clear about what we want his role to be. He is relishing the responsibility and is clear with his plans. His spell was the difference today, curtailing 20-25 runs extra. He is going to be our death bowler. As a captain you want players with clarity and confidence and he has that. Jamieson started off well, Yuzi was good after the powerplay,
Siraj was good too. In T20 cricket, clarity at the top of your mark is all you as for as a captain. Harshal was very clear with what he wanted to do and it was his day today, he came out on top.. We wanted Maxi to bat at four. Rajat is a very solid players. Probably didn't see enough of him in this game but he is an exciting player, plays spin really well too. He's going be one to watch out for. The thinking was that we wanted to give Maxi some balls at the start and not get him slogging right away. You saw the result today of him playing 10-15 balls. He took the game away and his innings was the game-changer. Had he stayed in we would've finished a couple of overs earlier. It allows AB to get into the game with the way he does. The opposition then gets nervous about AB. 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 people can execute. In a tricky chase you need experience at the back, and the opposition knows that if he doesn't get out, the bowlers get in a different headspace. It's something we want to bank on.AB de Villiers : Was an incredible game of cricket once again. Always seem to be against MI. They are five time champions so we knew it wasn't going to be easy, we knew it wasn't an easy pitch to play on. We did well through the halfway and it's one of those wickets that gets harder as the game goes on. It got difficult to get the boundaries and they have a great bowling line up, they put a lot of pressure on us.. We knew if we could take it to the end we could take a chance. I worked hard on my fitness but it's just not the same(laughs). I was running on quicksand, I through it was an easy two but it was a good throw (about his run-out) and Krunal was spot-on. It's an absolute pleasure playing alongside Maxwell. I have a lot of respect for him. I love playing with players like that, who just wants to win cricket games. And also there's Dan Christian who was right behind me. It's a nice combination to have. There's a reason why they've won the trophy five times.
They are a formidable team but that was the challenge for us tonight. We did well and we won the first game against them last year as well in the first game, so we won't get too excited. We have to keep winning games.Rohit Sharma : Ending the tournament if better is certainly better than starting it off nicely. It was a great effort, great fight till the end. It wasn't easy to hit the ball. We weren't happy with the score, we felt we were 15-20 runs short, especially with the start we got. Nonetheless, it's the first game. We made some mistakes which are bound to happen, but it's about working and learning from those mistakes. Jansen's a talent we've identified, who can bowl in any given situation. Obviously when you look at the situation of the game, they had ABD and Maxwell with 4 overs remaining.
So we decided to go with Bumrah and Boult, back to back, to get some wickets. That was the plan but it didn't work out too well. Not to disappointed though, the boys put in a good effort. It's definitely not an easy pitch to bat on. The odd ball was gripping and getting stuck into the pitch, so it wasn't easy to hit. We need to identify those situations and variations next time we play here. ABD played really well towards the back end to get them home. There are a few new faces in the squad and the players are coming back from international duties, so we didn't have much time together as a group. Much opposite to what it was last year. That's how it is though, and we've got to do better. We've got some work to do and buck ourselves up as quickly as possible. It can be difficult for teams who have great home record but that's the challenge of the sport (about playing in neutral venues). But we are fortunate enough to be able to be on the park and put some smiles on the faces of people in India. The country is going through tough times. Give them something to look forward to, with this tournament that's always so exciting. Mumbai Indians had won their last five games at Chennai. While Royal Challengers Bangalore had lost their previous five. It's fair to say they did well to turn the tables.A nail-biter of a game to get the tournament underway and it's RCB who get their first one! They've won the season openers, for the first time. Wasn't as easy as it should have been perhaps. They never tend to make it easy for themselves, do they
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