Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Mumbai Indians by eight wickets while chasing a 172-run goal to get their IPL 2023 season off to a winning start. With the bat, Virat Kohli shone, scoring an undefeated 82 runs off of just 49 balls, while Faf du Plessis finished off with 73 runs.
MI vs RCB – Match Summary
Mumbai’s batting performance didn’t go well, as they lost four wickets for 48 runs in less than nine overs. The first victim was Ishan Kishan, who was caught by Mohammed Siraj’s bowling at deep third man. Reece Topley dispatched Green with a full and direct delivery before suffering a shoulder injury while fielding and leaving the game.
Rohit Sharma, the MI captain who is out of sorts, made a weak swing and was caught behind by Akash Deep. Suryakumar Yadav’s poor performance continued when Michael Bracewell slashed him toward the backward point. For the fifth wicket, Varma and Nehal Wadhera scored 50 runs, giving Mumbai’s innings some direction.
Varma hit Glenn Maxwell for back-to-back sixes at the start of the 12th over, while Wadhera hit Karn Sharma for two maximums before missing on his third attempt. Sharma then cleaned up Tim David after he missed his slog sweep. Varma was MI’s lone savior, delivering an undefeated 84-run knock to enable MI to a respectable total of 171/7.
Tilak Varma destroyed the RCB bowling attack while the big guns faltered, smashing 9 fours and 4 sixes, including a helicopter shot. Tilak’s undefeated 84 is currently the third-highest score by a MI batsman batting No. 5 or lower.
Kohli-Du Plessis duo powers RCB to eight-wicket win
After a three-year absence, the IPL returned to Bangalore, and the fans
undoubtedly received their money’s worth thanks to their greatest hero’s
outstanding batting display. At the start of the fourth over, Jofra Archer dropped
Kohli’s return catch, which was the biggest turning point in the game. In the
very same over, Virat Kohli danced down the field to strike Jofra Archer’s slower
ball for a six-over long-off.
There was no turning back for RCB in front of jubilant home supporters after that
breathtaking shot. Suryakumar Yadav was replaced by Jason Behrendorff as MI’s
impact player, but it didn’t work as Kohli and du Plessis took advantage of him
and his new-ball partner Arshad by scoring 30 runs in three overs.
While Virat Kohli struggled in the 2022 IPL, he had marked a significant return to form at the end of the previous year with two international hundreds. Kohli produced a brilliant 186 in the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Cup against Australia in 2023 after scoring two ODI hundreds against Sri Lanka. During their partnership against Mumbai, RCB skipper Faf du Plessis was more dominant, to begin with, but Virat Kohli was not to be left behind.
Kohli and Du Plessis provided RCB the perfect start as they accumulated 148 runs in 14.5 overs while chasing 172 before Du Plessis was out for 73 by Arshad Khan (43). With Cameron Green’s dismissal of Dinesh Karthik for 0, Glenn Maxwell joined the party and helped his team win by an 8-wicket margin.
With six 4s and five 6s, Kohli scored an unbeaten 82 from 49 balls to complete his comeback. With this knock, King Kohli has now surpassed David Warner to become the second player with 50 or more fifty-plus scores and the third with more than 800 boundaries.