RCB recorded a stunning last-ball win over defending champions MI in the 2021 season opener to get first points on the board. After Harshal Patel’s five-wicket haul helped RCB restrict MI to 159/9, Glenn Maxwell’s middle-order exploits to go with AB de Villiers’ magic at the death ensured RCB crossed the finish line on the final ball.
The IPL 2021 a rocking start. It was a nail-biting final ball finish in the tournament opener as Royal Challengers Bangalore just about managed to hold their nerve against five-time and defending champions Mumbai Indians at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Virat Kohli finally won a toss as he inserted MI into bat first on what proved to be a sluggish Chepauk track. RCB had three debutants for them in Glenn Maxwell, Rajat Patidar and Kyle Jamieson, while Chris Lynn and Marco Jensen made their MI debuts. There was a surprise from RCB as well as they left out Indian international pacer Navdeep Saini, and the returning Harshal Patel and left-arm spinning all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed got the nod ahead of Saini.
MI got off to a sedate start as the RCB new-ball bowler Mohammed Siraj and Kyle Jamieson bowled tight lines and gave nothing away. The duo combined to give just 18 runs in the four overs they bowled in the powerplay. RCB were gifted with the wicket for Rohit Sharma as the MI skipper was sold down the river by Chris Lynn. At the end of five overs, MI’s score read 30/1, but Lynn and Suryakumar Yadav upped the ante as they accumulated 53 runs in the next four overs.
But the RCB bowlers managed to pull it back nicely in the back half. Jamieson got rid of Yadav before Sundar had Lynn top-edging one for 49. Ishan Kishan took the attack to Chahal and smoked him for a six and a four in the 14th over to get the innings back on track for MI.
Harshal Patel who had conceded 15 runs in his first over came back superbly as he bowled three overs in the death and picked up a five-wicket haul. He gave away a mere 12 runs in his last three overs as RCB managed to restrict MI to 159/9 and conceded just 31 runs in the last five overs.
However, that was a par score on a wicket that was holding up a bit, and it was tough to score as the ball got older. RCB sprung another surprise as Sundar walked out to open the batting alongside Kohli. The off-spinning all-rounder struggled to get the ball away as the RCB skipper started fluently. The three-time finalists raced away to 35/0 in four overs, and it was Kohli and the extras that contributed the most till then.
Sundar’s dismal stay at the crease came to an end as Krunal Pandya had him top-edging one straight to short third-man. Rajat Patidar chopped one back on to his stumps in the next over as Trent Boult gave MI their second scalp. Glenn Maxwell’s arrival at the crease infused life again in RCB’s chase. Even though Kohli slowed down drastically, Maxwell kept up with the asking rate and was batting beautifully. He toyed around with the MI spinners, reverse-sweeping them or even going inside-out before launching Krunal outside Chepauk.
The Kohli-Maxwell partnership was going great guns, but Jasprit Bumrah in the 13th over turned the tide. RCB needed 65 runs in the last eight overs with eight wickets in hand. They cruised at that stage, but Bumrah pinned Kohli plumb in front as the RCB skipper’s middle-overs struggle came to an end.
Debutant Jensen bowled a superb 15th over as he picked up two wickets, including that of the well-set Maxwell and gave away just three runs. With 55 runs needed in five overs and it was all down to AB de Villiers once again. The South African had a sluggish start, and at that stage, he was four of eight, but he launched a stunning counter-attack on Rahul Chahar, smoking him for a four and a six to get RCB’s chase back on track. De Villiers kept losing partners at the other end, but that didn’t stop him. He smashed Boult for 15 runs in the 18th over before picking up a couple of boundaries in the penultimate over from Bumrah to bring down the equation to seven runs in the final over.
De Villiers and Patel knocked it around before the former was runout going for a second run. With two runs in two ball needed, Siraj and Patel got a single each to get RCB over the line in a nerve-wracking game. This was MI’s ninth successive defeat in the first game of the season.
Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 159/9 (Lynn 49, Yadav 31, Kishan 28, Patel 5/27, Sundar 1/7) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 160/8 (de Villiers 48, Maxwell 39, Kohli 33, Bumrah 2/26, Jansen 2/28) by two wickets
