Royal Challengers Bangalore outscored defending champions Mumbai Indians by two wickets in a last-ball thriller in the Indian Premier League opener at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday. AB de Villiers rolled back the years with his stunning and ruthless attack. After RCB was reduced to 106 for 5, De Villiers smashed 48 off 27 bats. Harshal Patel completed his perfect day by hitting a single off the final delivery to help the team cross the 160-run mark in 20 overs. Haryana’s Harshal, who has been a constant presence on the fringes of the IPL, finally got his chance to shine with 5 for 27, which helped RCB limit MI to 159 for nine.
MI lost the first match, as is customary in the IPL, but this time it was to de Villiers, who turned the game around in two overs by targeting MI’s two spinners, Rahul Chahar (0/43) and Krunal Pandya (1/25). Rohit Sharma was forced to finish Jasprit Bumrah’s spell (2/26 in 4 overs) before the final over, from which seven runs were needed.
As Glenn Maxwell (39 off 28 balls) came in and disturbed leg-spinner Chahar’s line with a reverse-pull boundary, RCB was in command. He got another maximum off Krunal Pandya over long-on after repeating the shot for a six off the same bowler.
Bumrah, MI’s strike bowler, returned for his second spell at the back-10 and bowled the Indian captain out with an angled delivery.
As if that wasn’t enough, Jansen, the 6’8″ rookie, hit a one-out single to end Maxwell’s potentially risky innings, as the ‘Big Show’ expected a lot but offered nothing once again.
De Villiers declared his arrival with a six and a boundary off Chahar after Jansen eliminated Shahbaz Ahmed.
Previously, Harshal delivered a death over masterclass, which held the MI total in place. He took three wickets in his final over for a run and became the first bowler to take five wickets against the Mumbai Indians.
