Blazing away: Kohli took RCB previous the end line with an unbeaten 49-ball 82.
| Photo Credit: Okay. MURALI KUMAR
Royal Challengers Bangalore made a flying begin to its IPL marketing campaign with a complete eight-wicket win over Mumbai Indians at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium right here on Sunday.
Skipper Faf du Plessis (73, 43b, 5×4, 6×6) and Virat Kohli (82 n.o., 49b, 6×4, 5×6) powered RCB to the 172-run goal with 22 balls to spare.
The MI assault was completely disappointing, serving up overpitched freebies to du Plessis and Kohli. They had been completely happy to simply accept the items, placing on a match-winning 148-run stand. RCB raced forward of the curve at 53 for no loss at the finish of the PowerPlay, and when the 100-run mark was reached in simply 10.3 overs, the writing was on the wall.
Kohli obtained a couple of lives. Archer put down a robust return catch when the batter was on seven, and Hrithik Shokeen dropped a sitter when Kohli was on 68.
Brilliant knock
After being put in to bat, a good unbeaten 84 from Tilak Verma helped MI put up a respectable whole. Tilak’s knock rescued MI, which was struggling at 20 for three at one stage. Tilak hammered 9 fours and 4 sixes to document his highest IPL rating. He completed the MI innings with a helicopter shot which sailed over long-on for a six.
Apart from Tilak, none of the MI batters seemed convincing. Skipper Rohit Sharma (1, 10b) seemed utterly out of kinds, whereas Ishan Kishan (10) and Cameron Green (5) fell cheaply. Suryakumar Yadav was anticipated to drag MI again on observe, however the middle-order maverick was taken out by off-spinner Michael Bracewell for 15.
RCB quick bowler Mohammed Siraj was incisive with the new ball, conserving a tight lid on the scoring charge with a stump-to-stump line. Leg-spiner Karn Sharma was spectacular in the center overs, taking two essential wickets.
Reece Topley harm his shoulder whereas fielding, and left the floor for remedy.
