Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli shine as RCB trounce MI to begin IPL 2023 on a high

They say that the Chinnaswamy Stadium is a bowler’s nightmare and as RCB returned home after a long wait of close to four years, they were willing to put this age-old maxim to the test and then come forth all guns blazing to put it to bed once and for all. 

Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bowl first, knowing that there would be dew in the second half. The RCB bowlers paid back their skipper’s faith pronto as they crippled the Mumbai Indians' top order without breaking a sweat, thanks to the fast-bowling duo of Reece Topley and Mohammed Siraj. Siraj struck the opening blow, producing that all-important mishit from Ishan Kishan (10) as Harshal Patel claimed a simple take in the deep. Moments later, Topley was celebrating the big scalp of Cameron Green (5) as he was outdone by an inswinging yorker.

Rohit Sharma (1) seemed uncomfortable for a lion’s share of his brief stay in the centre and eventually nicked to Dinesh Karthik off Akash Deep. Suryakumar Yadav (15) did try and build a partnership but Michael Bracewell struck to remove the big man on his debut.

Karn Sharma (2/32) had his say in the game too as he produced a couple of wickets in the form of Nehal Wadhera and Tim David. Karn’s scalps came after Nehal played an elemental role alongside Tilak Varma as the duo stitched together a crucial 50-run stand for the 5th wicket. However, once Nehal departed, there was a flurry of further wickets to follow.

Teetering at 123/7, Mumbai Indians saw a young Tilak Varma take up the scoring responsibility, with the RCB bowlers put to test. Verma and Arshad Khan (15*) put on a 49-run partnership from 17 balls, allowing Mumbai Indians to pile up 171/7 from their 20 overs. 

Coming out to chase, the Royal Challengers Bangalore seemed to be in a hurry to finish things off with the openers, du Plessis and Virat Kohli jetting away at the top.

From an array of exquisite strokes that raced past the fielders to taking the aerial route as if it was child’s play, it was the RCB skipper who led the charge with a quickfire start while Kohli played the perfect two to tango.

The duo knocked around handsomely as the Mumbai bowlers were desperately scrambling for a fire blanket amidst raining boundaries at the Chinnaswamy. Faf and Kohli put on 148 for the opening partnership that saw the former smashing a 43-ball 73, an inning that featured five fours and six sixes. 

After a well-constructed knock, the RCB skipper fell to Arshad Khan as he couldn’t time a skier, while Karthik’s (0) effort to rock early was foiled by Cameron Green. However, that didn’t deter RCB from walking away with the bragging rights as Glenn Maxwell (12*) smashed two maximums from the three balls that he faced, with Kohli eventually sealing the deal for the team with a gorgeous six and 22 balls to spare.