Harshal Patel tsunami hits Mumbai Indians

IPL 2021 got off to a flier as Royal Challengers Bangalore prevailed over defending champions, Mumbai Indians on the last ball of their innings.

RCB chased down the target with 2 wickets left in their hand. 

RCB won the toss and opted to field first in the season’s opener.

On a slow and dry pitch, the 5-time champions Mumbai struggled to post a big score.

Captain Rohit Sharma only managed to hit one six as he scored 19 runs in 15 balls.

However, Chris Lynn was in cracking form with 49 runs off 35 balls, including 3 sixes.

But, Mumbai Indians lost wickets at regular intervals and their players failed to score a single half century.

The middle and lower order lost their wickets quickly to Harshal Patel.

Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav made decent contributions, but couldn’t build on their starts.

Rohit Sharma’s side scored 159-9, setting RCB, a target of 160 runs in 20 overs.  

Harshal Patel was the star performer, taking 5 wickets for just 27 runs in his 4 overs.

This is a big achievement for the 30 year-old who has played more than 100 T20s, with this being his 1st five-wicket haul in the IPL.

Kyle Jamieson and Washington Sundar registered a dismissal each. Washington only bowled one over with figures of 7-1

Challengers start badly

RCB lost their first wicket, Washington quickly, but captain Virat Kohli handled the situation well and took his side to a decent start.

Kohli scored 33 runs of 29 balls with 4 fours.

But, the showpieces were the innings of Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers. Both were on fire with sixes and fours blazing from their bats.

Aussie sensation Maxwell scored 39 runs only on 28 balls hitting 2 fantastic sixes and 3 fours. 

Superstar AB de Villiers played a match-winning knock scoring 48 runs quickly off just 27 balls. AB helped RCB cross the finish line as he took the game away from Mumbai Indian hitting 2 sixes and 4 fours in a blistering innings. 

Jasprit Bumrah bowled well taking 2 wickets and giving just 26 runs of four overs. Trent Boult and Pandya managed to bag one wicket each in their 4 overs respectively. Rahul Chahar was expensive with figures 43-0 in his 4 overs. 

Final Scorecard 

Royal Challengers Bangalore, 160 for 8 (AB de Villiers 48, Maxwell 39, Bumrah 2-26, Jansen 2-28) beat Mumbai Indians 159 for 9 (Lynn 49, Yadav 31, Patel 5-27) by two wickets