Bengaluru: After three years at Chinnaswamy Stadium, there is a happy return of IPL. For the first time after 2019, the match played at the home ground of Royal Challengers Bangalore has brought new hopes for the home team and its fans. Bangalore defeated Mumbai Indians by 8 wickets in the first match based on the opening pair of captain Faf Duplesey, and former captain Virat Kohli and the strong performance of the bowlers. With this easy win, RCB made a strong start in their quest for the first title.
Gujarat Titans, Lucknow Super Giants and Punjab Kings started this season in their respective homes and won. Only Sunrisers Hyderabad failed in this task. In such a situation, the eyes were on Bangalore, which was facing five-time champion Mumbai. Bangalore also did not disappoint and started the season with a resounding win at home. At the same time, in the 11th consecutive season, Mumbai failed to win the first match.
Surrender of Mumbai in front of Kohli-Duplessy
Bangalore had started well with bowling but Tilak Verma had taken the team to a strong score of 171 runs in the last over with strong innings. Despite this, this score was still not very big in front of the effect of dew and the small boundaries of Chinnaswamy Stadium. Virat Kohli (82 not out, 49 balls, 6 fours, 5 sixes) and Faf Duplesey also proved it right. Mumbai's bowling, which was already looking weak, had high hopes for the return of Joffra Archer, but Virat especially eliminated the threat of the English pacer.
At the same time, Duplessi (73 runs, 43 balls, 5 fours, 6 sixes) kept the pace of runs fast from the beginning and put Mumbai on the back foot. Duplessy easily hit sixes in every part of the ground. Duplessy hit a half-century in just 29 balls, while after some time Kohli also completed his fifty in 38 balls. There was a tremendous partnership of 148 runs in 14.5 overs between the two. After Duplesey's dismissal, Dinesh Karthik was also dealt with immediately but Glenn Maxwell's two consecutive sixes and Kohli's fours and sixes in the first two balls of the 17th over ended the match.
Mumbai was destroyed in Powerplay itself
Talking Mumbai's innings, it looked divided into two parts. First 10 overs and the next 10 overs. In the first 10 overs, Mumbai was not even in the match. In the powerplay, the sensational bowling of Mohammad Siraj (1/21) and Reece Topley (1/14) had battered Mumbai. Ishan Kishan (10), Cameron Green (5) and captain Rohit Sharma (1) were dismissed in these 6 overs and the score was 29 runs. At the same time, there was a slight improvement in the condition till the 10th over, yet the score was 4 wickets for 55 runs. Despite this start, Mumbai made a big score of 171 and this was possible due to the courageous innings of 21-year-old batsman Tilak Verma.
Tilak Verma created havoc
Tilak, who impressed on his debut last season, saved Mumbai again. This batsman ended the pressure on RCB bowlers and collected boundaries. Tilak completed his half-century in just 32 balls. At the same time, Nehal Wadhera, who was making his debut, also gave good support and hit 21 runs in 16 balls, which also had a big six of 101 meters.
The better RCB bowled in the initial overs, the worse they looked in the last two overs. Mohammad Siraj spent 16 runs including 5 wides in the 19th over, while Harshal Patel left everything unturned by giving 22 runs in the 20th over. Tilak Verma sent the last ball for a six and returned unbeaten after scoring 84 runs (46 balls, 9 fours, 4 sixes). By the way, experienced leg-spinner Karn Sharma (2/32) also made an excellent contribution to Bangalore.
