MI vs RCB, IPL 2021 Highlights: De Villiers, Harshal shine as Bangalore beats Mumbai by two wickets
IPL 2021, RCB vs MI: Catch the highlights of the IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Published : Apr 09, 2021 16:31 IST
Hello and welcome to the highlights of the IPL 2021 opener - MI vs RCB. This was Santadeep Dey bringing you all the action as it unfurled at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
[ MI vs RCB, IPL 2021, MATCH 1 LIVE SCORECARD ]
HIGHLIGHTS
Harshal Patel, Man of the Match: When they traded me, they told me I was part of the plans and would bowl at the death. Absolutely happy to be here to repay the faith showed in me. I didn't know I was the first to get a five-for against Mumbai. Whatever momentum I had, I wanted to make use of it.
This is my first five-for in 98 matches and to get it against a team like Mumbai is special. I've just been working a lot on my yorkers, become more confident in bowling it at different stages of the game. I was always good with length balls and slower balls.
Virat Kohli: It was important to play against the strongest opposition to test the depth of your team. Everyone got involved, everyone's got game time. Lot of options in the kitty which helped bring the game back. To be honest, the pitch was looking decent in the first-half. It's not a ground where you can hit through the line unless the situation demands it.
Harshal is relishing the role. He is going to be our designated death bowler. Very confident about what he wants to bring to the table and as a captain you want someone with that clarity. In T20 cricket, that's all you ask from the bowler. And the wickets that he got weren't fluke wickets. He actually wanted the guys to hit the ball where he wanted them caught.
AB de Villiers: Was an incredible game of cricket, always seems to be against Mumbai. We obviously came in knowing it wasn't going to be easy. I knew halfway it was going to get tough, it's one of those pitches that gets harder as the game goes on. They have a wonderful bowling line up that put us under pressure.
There's a reason why Mumbai have won this trophy five times, there's a lot of aura around them. But that was the challenge, to beat the champions and get a lot of confidence. We did well tonight.
Rohit Sharma: Winning the championship is important, I guess, not the first game. Great fight, we didn't let it go easily. Although the score wasn't something we were happy with. We were 20 short. We made some mistakes, those are bound to happen.
We haven't had much time together as a group and it was totally opposite in Dubai, where we began preparations a month before. But that's how the IPL has been played over the years, you just got to get in the game as quickly as possible. It can be difficult for teams that have great home records, but that is what sport is, you've got to go away and win. We are fortunate that we are on the park.
| RESULT: ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE BEATS MUMBAI INDIANS BY TWO WICKETS |
Royal Challengers Bangalore innings
RCB 160/8 in 20 overs: Spot on! Jansen starts off with a yorker to force de Villiers into taking a single.
Harshal takes off but this will land well within the limits and safe. A couple of runs for him.
ABD is back on strike with Harshal's single off the next delivery.
And ABD walks, while trying to come back for two. Was well short of the crease when Kishan made a mess of the stumps at the batter's end.
But a leg bye and a single off the last two deliveries ensure a victory for the visitor!
RCB 153/7 in 19 overs: Is de Villiers taking his side across the finish line yet again?
Starts off with a four against Bumrah.
Runs a couple off the next ball.
Four again off the third - smart, cheeky and over the head of short third man.
A single next and Jamieson has a job to do: get ABD back on strike.
My, oh, my! Jamieson hits the non-striker's stumps as de Villiers breaks into a run. The Kiwi ends up sacrificing his wicket as Bumrah is quick to pick up the ball and uproot the sticks.
ABD will be on strike in the 20th over as he picks up a single off the last ball of the over.
RCB 141/6 in 18 overs: The game is never over with ABD still out there in the middle! Boult's first delivery has been sent off the ground and into the sight screen. And BAM! Again. Boult goes fuller this time and de Villiers shoots it straight back down the ground for a four. We have a thriller at hand, ladies and gentlemen! 19 required off 12.
RCB 126/6 in 17 overs: Bumrah gets ABD off strike after the very first delivery - precisely what MI wanted! And Christian's gone... the back-of-a-length delivery does the trick as the right-hander slaps it straight to Chahar at point.
RCB 121/5 in 16 overs: Okay, so ABD is back to playing cricket after five months, having last played in the previous edition of this very league. And he shows he means business straightaway, bludgeoning Chahar for a four and six off the first two balls of this over. 'Mr. 360' for a reason... Time for another break as the coaches saunter down to the centre to discuss strategy!
RCB 106/5 in 15 overs: Jansen is back into the attack and the change has worked wonders right away! Maxwell, deceived by the slower and shorter delivery, has tucked it right into the hands of Lynn at short fine leg. RCB, from being in the dominant spot a few overs ago, now finds itself in a muck.
Oh, wait for it... It gets better for MI. Shahbaz has holed out to Krunal at deep backward square leg now.
RCB 103/3 in 14 overs: Maxwell and ABD - this partnership promises to be a treat for the eyes! Surprisingly, Maxwell never went beyond 32 runs last season. He is already on 39 now.
RCB 99/3 in 13 overs: Has to be a huge moment in this game! This is the fourth time Bumrah has picked up the wicket of Kohli in the IPL. Looked stone dead to me and the umpire didn't hesitate before raising his finger as well. de Villiers walks out to the middle.
RCB 95/2 in 12 overs: Into outer space goes Maxwell... The switch hit at play yet again! There's little Rahul Chahar could have done about that. A miscue from Kohli two deliveries later sees the ball drop in no man's land. This has to be RCB's night.
RCB 75/2 in 10 overs: A decent over from Jansen after being targeted by Kohli in his first except for the two wides. Six runs from the over.
RCB 84/2 in 11 overs: After not hitting a single six in the last edition of the IPL, Maxwell smokes Krunal out of the ground in the very first match of IPL 2021. Kohli couldn't believe what he was seeing.
RCB 69/2 in 9 overs: Maxwell goes inside out again to the left of long off to pick up four more. Time for the first tactical break of this innings.
RCB 63/2 in 8 overs: The Maxwell-special switch hit is here! It comes right off the meat of the bat and races down to the third man boundary. The 'Big Show' goes again, this time over extra cover. Rahul Chahar's first over goes for 13.
RCB 50/2 in 7 overs: A blink-and-you-miss over from Krunal. But the first ball had almost seen Kohli head back to the dugout. He rushed for a non-existent single and Maxwell sent him back just in time. Kishan didn't pick up the throw from Hardik cleanly either.
RCB 46/2 in 6 overs: Boult has the happy knack of picking up wickets in the PowerPlay. He scalped 16 in the first six overs in the last edition and has picked up right from where he left. Patidar welcomes him with a boundary but Boult unleashes the knuckle ball to get rid of him. Maxwell comes to the crease.
RCB 41/1 in 5 overs: Krunal strikes! A straightforward catch from Lynn hands Mumbai the much-needed breakthrough. Sundar mistimes and he knew his fate was sealed the moment it came off his bat.
RCB 35/0 in 4 overs: Kohli welcomes Jansen's 136kmph-half-tracker with a mighty pull towards the square-leg boundary. The tall South Africa pacer has overstepped now. Free hit and it has been pulled over short fine.
RCB 21/0 in 3 overs: Boult goes full and wide of off and Kohli has creamed this right through extra cover.
RCB 15/0 in 2 overs: It has been quite some time since Bumrah last played white-ball cricket. But he bowls decently to concede only five off his first over of the day.
RCB 10/0 in 1 over: What is up with the fielding today? Boult opens up an opportunity as Sundar reaches out to play at an outswinger. Rohit, however, has put it down at second slip. Kohli miscues one next but turns out to be lucky as the ball speeds past the bowler to the fence.
Surprise, surprise! Sundar will open the batting alongside Kohli. He has done it for Tamil Nadu and in the TNPL prior to this. Boult will try and extract some movement with the new ball in hand.
| INNINGS BREAK: RCB NEEDS 160 TO WIN AT 8.00 RPO |
Mumbai Indians innings
MI 159/9 in 20 overs: HAAAARSHAAAL PATEEEEEL! Oh, he deserved a hat-trick but just misses out. WW0W in the first four balls of the last over. While Krunal and Pollard holed out to fielders in the deep, Harshal castled Jansen. Rahul Chahar is the last man to fall, courtesy a run out.
| Stat Attack: Harshal is the first bowler in the IPL to bag a fifer against Mumbai Indians. |
MI 158/5 in 19 overs: Dropped! Kohli now. But the bigger question is whether the Indian skipper will be okay to carry on. The ball bursts through his fingers to hit him on the face just under the right eye. He doesn't walk off, though. That is surely good news for his millions of fans out there. Two back-to-back fours and a free-hit follow. A searing yorker also sees Krunal break his bat. It's all happening here in Chennai.
MI 146/5 in 18 overs: And Siraj, at deep backward square leg, himself has dropped a sitter now! Harshal banged this short and Kishan went fishing at it outside his eye-line. Half the side had already started celebrating. It doesn't matter, though, as Kishan walks off the very next delivery, nevertheless - trapped plumb in front.
MI 142/4 in 17 overs: Sundar, at deep backward square leg, has let go of a simple opportunity to send Kishan back into the hut! The spinner was about five metres inside the boundary limits, where ideally he should have back-tracked to lap this up. Siraj isn't a happy man.
MI 135/4 in 16 overs: Smart work from Pandya, who was aware that the third man was in. Uses Harshal's pace to guided this between backward point and short third man for a boundary. The cheers are, however, shortlived as Pandya has been adjudged leg-before off a full toss! How often do we see that happening? The umpire has called for the second timeout of the innings.
MI 128/3 in 15 overs: Straight down the ground goes Hardik off Christian to pick up his first boundary of the game. Eight runs off the over.
MI 120/3 in 14 overs: Picturesque! Doesn't get to the pitch of the ball this time, but Kishan has hit it hard enough. Six. Hold up... he isn't done yet. Follows the maximum up with a glorious boundary.
MI 105/3 in 13 overs: Lynn has just hammered a flatter delivery from Sundar towards long-on in disdain. Four. This isn't the start the Indian all-rounder would have wanted. But the tables turn and how! Lynn, on 49, misfires and Sundar had to run down quite a few yards towards the mid-on region to pouch this one. Excellent take!
MI 98/2 in 12 overs: Kishan joins Lynn in the middle as Siraj returns. The Indian pacer is mixing it up well. Yet another tidy over from him.
MI 94/2 in 11 overs: Exquisite timing from Suryakumar sees the ball disappear into the stands. And that's it! Jamieson gets the breakthrough RCB wanted as SKY departs, caught behind.
MI 86/1 in 10 overs: Lynn is known to exhibit weakness against the spinners. Chahal extracting some turn off the surface right after the break does find the Australian playing some loose strokes.
MI 83/1 in 9 overs: Suryakumar greets Christian with a late cut that slices backward point and short third into half. Lynn picks up another boundary to end the over with 13 runs. Time for a strategic timeout!
MI 70/1 in 8 overs: Lynn-sanity! Harshal starts off with a no-ball and to make matters worse he gets it right into Lynn's hitting arc during the free hit. A baseball-like swing sees the ball disappear up, up and away... Close! Suryakumar chips one up towards mid-off and it just doesn't carry to the fielder.
MI 55/1 in 7 overs: The 50 comes up for Mumbai Indians with a towering maximum from Lynn! Shahbaz goes for 14 runs in his first over.
MI 41/1 in 6 overs: Lynn tees off! This has been launched for the moon. Chahal could only watch it go. SKY ends the PowerPlay on a high with a powerful punch to sweeper cover to pick up four runs.
MI 30/1 in 5 overs: SKY doing just SKY things. Jamieson's first ball of this over is off to the deep square leg boundary.
MI 24/1 in 4 overs: A collective gasp from the fielders as Lynn, having failed to pick up Chahal's googly, gets an inside edge that just misses the stumps. Worse, it has gone down to the ropes. Rohit puts on his dancing shoes two balls later to go downtown. SIX!
WAIT... WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! Lynn has sold his captain right down the river. A bit of "yes-no-maybe" sees Kohli swoop in on the ball and nail a perfect throw to Chahal who whips the bails off in no time.
MI 12/0 in 3 overs: The slowness of the pitch is playing on the mind of the batsmen. Rohit and Lynn are both trying to grapple with the odd length ball. But finally... Rohit breaks the shackles to to just get one over the fielder at mid-off. Jamieson, 6-foot-8, gets only his fingers to it as the ball races to the fence.
MI 6/0 in 2 overs: Alright, we have Jamieson to bowl his very first over in the IPL. Oh, almost... Lynn plays hard at a delivery that creeped dangerously low and the edge falls just short of Christian at first slip.
MI 5/0 in 1 over: Siraj channels the first ball onto Rohit's pads and the Mumbai skipper has worked it away craftily to pick up two runs straightaway. Lynn is yet to face a delivery.
Cricket's biggest carnival is back in town! And it will be Rohit and Lynn to kick-start proceedings with the bat in the curtain-raiser. Siraj has the new ball in hand. Let's play!
PLAYING XI
Mumbai Indians : Rohit Sharma (c), Chris Lynn, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (w), Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Marco Jansen, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
Royal Challengers Bangalore : Virat Kohli (c), Rajat Patidar, AB de Villiers (w), Glenn Maxwell, Daniel Christian, Washington Sundar, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Shahbaz Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal
WHAT THEY SAID
Rohit Sharma: Would've fielded first as well. But as a team we've batted well over the years. Nothing different for us. Bat well in the PowerPlay and set the game up for the big hitters. The entire square has been changed.
For us it's a fresh year, don't need to look at what's happened in the past. Fresh year, new faces as well. Important for us to start well which we haven't done in this tournament.
Last game we played was a final in Dubai. Got only two changes from that lineup. Quinny is in quarantine, so he isn't available. Lynn will make debut. And we have a six-foot-eight-inch South African, Marco Jansen.
Virat Kohli: They're a side who like chasing. Good chance for us to get onto the park and create some intensity. With the balance we have this year we can do both, but have to understand who you're playing against.
Every year IPL has a different energy, a different vibe. It's high intensity. Playing for the same franchise has been an honour for me. Loyalty is a big thing for me.
Dubai was great as well but this just feels like home. Great feeling to be playing in our stadiums and for people to watch in our prime times.
Three guys making their debut: Maxwell, Jamieson, Christian is back after eight years for the same franchise. Padikkal misses out due to health issues. Rajat Patidar is in.
TOSS UPDATE
RCB has won the toss and chosen to bowl.
PITCH REPORT
"Great to see something different. The surface has been watered and rolled. Looks like a great surface to bat on with the new ball expected to come nicely onto the bat. However, there may be problems with the ball getting old. There will be a lot of deviation," reckon Danny Morrison and Laxman Sivaramakrishnan.
- MI has just handed caps to Marco Jansen and Chris Lynn.
- Less than 30 minutes to go for the toss... Can't contain your excitement? Neither can we!
- Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma and the Pandya brothers are limbering up in the middle for Friday's blockbuster clash.
- It's poll time, ladies and gentlemen!
- We have the first visual from the centre! Turns out Chepauk's all blue, instead of the customary yellow, as it gears up to host today's IPL match in exactly two hours from now.
Tick tock... tick tock...
General view of the ground during match 1 of the Vivo Indian Premier League 2021 between Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers Bangalore held at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on the 9th April 2021. Photo by Vipin Pawar / Sportzpics for IPL - RCB has just dropped its anthem for this season. Check it out.
- Less than two hours remaining for the toss. Why don't you go through our special IPL 2021 section until then? You may also choose to put those grey cells to work by trying out a few quizzes !
MATCH PREVIEW
It’s Virat Kohli vs Rohit Sharma. Two different kinds of captains and leaders. One whose body language bristles with aggression. The other who is more laid-back but street smart.
In other words, a gun-slinger versus a smooth operator.
The IPL lung opener between defending champion Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore could prove intriguing.
The surface for the day/night game at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Friday should provide good carry in the first half but could assist the spinners later on. Dew could be a big factor.
For RCB, much hinges on the opening pair of Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal - he has recovered well from Covid - but they will be against the deadly combination of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult.
Bumrah swings the new ball away and then delivers potent yorkers. Boult will be a threat with his swing and left-armer’s angle.
RCB, though, has batting firepower. Apart from the gifted AB de Villiers who can innovate and create effortlessly, the side has the destructive Glenn Maxwell.
READ| IPL 2021 MI team preview
RCB would do well if it utilises the wonderfully fluent batting potential of Washington Sundar. He is more than an accurate off-spinner.
Mumbai Indians is a complete side. The brutal Rohit can win matches off his own bat.
Then you have strokeful Quinton de Kock, whose availability for the match could be a touch-and-go affair.
And the side has stupendous domestic talent with the willow; the explosive Ishan Kishan, the smooth-stroking Suryakumar Yadav, the big-hitting Hardik Pandya, and the dynamic Krunal Pandya. Then there is a palm-tree hitter Kieron Pollard.
ALSO READ| IPL 2021 RCB team preview
In the RCB attack, exciting Kiwi paceman Kyle Jamieson will be watched with keen interest. Yuzvendra Chahal could also enter the picture.
The opening duel could be a titanic affair.
- by S. Dinakar
PODCAST What to look forward to in IPL 2021? Our correspondents Vijay Lokapally, Shayan Acharya and Wriddhaayan Bhattacharyya discuss. |
PREDICTED XI
MI: Rohit Sharma (C), Chris Lynn, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Adam Milne, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult.
RCB: Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli (C), AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Daniel Christian, Washington Sundar, Kyle Jamieson, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Mumbai has clashed with Bangalore 29 times in the IPL and enjoys a 19-10 win-loss advantage.
LAST FIVE IPL MEETINGS
If the last five encounters are to be taken into account, MI again holds a slight advantage over RCB, winning thrice compared to Kohli and Co.'s two victories.
Last season, while the first leg was won by RCB in a super-over thriller, Mumbai got the better of Bangalore in the second leg.
TOP PERFORMERS IN THE FIXTURE
| Highest run-getters | Runs scored |
| Virat Kohli (RCB: 2008-Present) | 695 |
| AB de Villiers (RCB: 2011-Present) | 634 |
| Kieron Pollard (MI: 2010-Present) | 539 |
| Top wicket-takers | Wickets taken |
| Harbhajan Singh (MI: 2008-2017) | 22 |
| Yuzvendra Chahal (RCB: 2014-Present) | 19 |
| Jasprit Bumrah (MI: 2013-Present) | 19 |
STARS FROM LAST SEASON
| Highest run-getters | Runs scored |
| Ishan Kishan (MI) | 516 |
| Quinton de Kock (MI) | 503 |
| Suryakumar Yadav (MI) | 480 |
| Top wicket-takers | Wickets taken |
| Jasprit Bumrah (MI) | 27 |
| Yuzvendra Chahal (RCB) | 21 |
| Trent Boult (MI) | 25 |
SQUADS
Mumbai Indians (MI): Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (WK), Chris Lynn, Anmolpreet Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Aditya Tare, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Anukul Roy, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohsin Khan, Adam Milne, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, James Neesham, Yudhvir Charak, Marco Jansen, Arjun Tendulkar.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB): Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Navdeep Saini, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Shahbaz Ahmed, Josh Philippe, Pavan Deshpande, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Devdutt Padikkal, S. Bharat, Suyash Prabhudessai, Daniel Christian, Kyle Jamieson, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Rajat Patidar, Sachin Baby, Glenn Maxwell.
AT WHAT TIME DOES IPL 2021 - MI vs RCB START?
The IPL 2021 first match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore begins at 7:30 PM IST.
WHERE TO WATCH IPL 2021 - MI vs RCB LIVE? IPL 2021 will be aired live on Star Sports channels - Star Sports 1 , Star Sports 1 HD , Star Sports 3 and Star Sports 3 HD . It will be streamed live on Disney+Hotstar . You can also follow the live commentary and latest updates of IPL 2021 on Sportstar .