BENGALURU: Virat Kohli and skipper Faf du Plessis led Royal Challengers Bangalore to a thumping eight-wicket drubbing of Mumbai Indians as the tournament’s big guns ruled on an action-packed Sunday at the Indian Premier League.
England’s Jos Buttler smashed a blazing fifty to help Rajasthan Royals hammer Sunrisers Hyderabad by 72 runs in the first match of the day.
Kohli (82 not out) and Du Plessis (73) capped off a run-filled day with an opening stand of 148 as Bangalore achieved their victory target of 172 with 22 balls to spare in front of a raucous home crowd.
The pair bossed the chase from the start with some assured strokemaking and regular boundaries to open their IPL campaign in style.
“I thought it was a phenomenal win, a homecoming after four years. Couldn’t have asked for a better game,” an elated Kohli said as he reflected on a tournament which has reverted to a home-and-away format following a number of years impacted by the Covid pandemic.
Man-of-the-match Du Plessis, a 38-year-old South African veteran, said: “My first time playing here (at M Chinnaswamy Stadium) as a home player, especially batting with Virat Kohli. Energy bounces off him.”
Five-time winners Mumbai looked clueless despite the presence of Jason Behrendorff, who came in as the “impact player” when they fielded, and the returning England fast bowler Jofra Archer.
Du Plessis smashed six sixes in his 43-ball knock before departing in the 15th over.
New man Dinesh Karthik soon fell for a duck off Mumbai’s big-buy Cameron Green.
Glenn Maxwell then struck two sixes and Kohli smacked the winning hit over the fence as Bangalore started their hunt for a maiden IPL title in season 16 of the cash-rich T20 tournament.
Mohammed Siraj led an inspired bowling attack with figures of 1-21 to keep down five-time winners Mumbai to 171-7 despite an unbeaten 84 by Indian talent Tilak Varma.
Varma, a 20-year-old uncapped India batsman, took charge after an early collapse when Mumbai lost their top three including Green (5) and skipper Rohit Sharma (1) inside six overs after being invited to bat first.
VARMA ‘COURAGE’
Australia’s Green, who was the second-most expensive buy after Mumbai forked out $2.11 million in the auction, was bowled by England left-arm quick Reece Topley.
Rohit lasted 10 balls before Akash Deep got the star batsman caught behind for one as Mumbai slipped to 20-3, but the all-format India captain praised Varma’s fightback.
“Some of the shots he played today, he showed a lot of courage,” said Rohit.
“We wanted to be courageous enough, and hats off to Tilak for getting us to the total. We did not bat to our potential.”
Bangalore suffered a blow when Topley awkwardly landed on his right shoulder while fielding and left the ground with the physio.
Topley was believed to have suffered a dislocated shoulder, which was put back in place but the 2.01 metre tall (6 feet and 5 inches) player was ruled out of the rest of the match. — AFP
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