Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated Mumbai Indians (MI) by 8 wickets on a super Sunday clash in Bengaluru. Chasing 172, scintillating half-centuries from RCB skipper Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli powered RCB to a dominant win over MI, marking a happy homecoming at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium. Both displayed a show of majestic stroke play and rattled MI’s bowling attack to delight the home fans.
After opting to bowl first, RCB had a good start as they scalped three quick wickets inside the powerplay overs. Mohammed Siraj drew the first blood by dismissing Ishan Kishan (10) while Reece Topley cleaned up Cameron Green (5) to make it 16/2. Akash Deep then dismissed MI captain Rohit Sharma for just 1. T20I specialist Suryakumar Yadav failed to make an impact and departed for 15.
Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera (21) looked to steady their ship by adding 50 runs for the fifth wicket. Karn Sharma picked up two quick wickets as MI reeled at 105/6 in 15.3 overs. However, Tilak fought a lone battle with his brilliant batting, smashing an unbeaten knock of 84 off 46 balls. The left-handed batter changed gears towards the end and played a counter-attacking game to help MI post a defendable total of 171/7 in 20 overs.
RCB in response had a terrific start as du Plessis and Kohli scored a dazzling 148 runs for the opening wicket. Both played an attacking game right from the start and hit the MI bowlers all over the park. Arshad Khan gave the much-needed breakthrough by dismissing du Plessis for 73. Kohli and Glenn Maxwell remained unbeaten on 82 and 12 respectively. In today’s game, CSK will lock horns with LSG at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
