Royal Challengers Bangalore began the IPL 2023 with a resounding 8-wicket win over Mumbai Indians played at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on 2 April.
It was a brilliant batting performance by Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis taking on an inexperienced Mumbai Indians bowling line-up. RCB openers looked in the brilliant form right from the word go scoring 53 runs in the first six overs.
After the field restrictions, Faf du Plessis and Kohli maintained the pressure on Mumbai Indian bowlers not allowing them to settle. Faf led from the front with a half-century off just 29 deliveries while Virat Kohli made the batting look easy completing fifty from 38 deliveries.
RCB openers just made the batting look easy and kept the momentum going. Faf du Plessis was eventually dismissed and caught by Tim David at long-on. Faf and Kohli put on 148 runs for the opening wicket. Dinesh Karthik could not open his account.
Virat Kohli looked in sublime touch keeping the scoreboard ticking. Kohli finished the job with a six to help Royal Challengers Bangalore win the opening encounter by 8 wickets with 22 deliveries. Kohli remained not out on 82 off 49 deliveries with 6 fours and 5 sixes while Faf du Plessis made 73 off 43 deliveries with 5 fours and 6 sixes.
RCB captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and decided to field first. It was an ideal start for RCB as Mohammed Siraj got rid of Ishan Kishan caught by Harshal Patel at third man. Reece Topley produced a beauty to dismiss Cameron Green leaving Mumbai Indians in trouble. Akash deep Singh eventually got rid of MI captain Rohit Sharma.
Bracewell struck to dismiss Suryakumar Yadav leaving MI in deep trouble at 48 for 4. Tilak Verma played a blinder of knock-hitting RCB bowlers all over the park along with Nehal Wadhera. After the fall of Hrithik Shokeen’s wicket, Tilak Verma took charge putting on an excellent display of hitting to help Mumbai Indians post 171 for 7. Verma and Arshad Khan added unbeaten 48 runs for the 8th wicket. Tilak Verma scored 84 off 46 deliveries with 9 fours and 4 sixes.
Here is how Twitterati reacted to RCB’s win:
Kohli and Du Plessis put on a wonderful exhibition of stroke-play.
But the foundation stone was set in the first few overs by the pace trio. There was a decent covering of grass and RCB took full advantage of it by extracting nifty movement off the pitch.
— Bharath Ramaraj (@Fancricket12) April 2, 2023
Overall – Batters remaining Not out in successful run chases most times in IPL:
26 – Dhoni
25 – Jadeja
22 – Y Pathan
22 – D Karthik
20 – Bravo
19 – Kohli, ABD, Raina #IPL2023 #CricketTwitter https://t.co/9Eai3YwndV— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) April 2, 2023
Serious opening combination, they seem to feed off each other out there, what a treat to watch. #TATAIPL https://t.co/NxwgbzIlf8
— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket) April 2, 2023
Faf Du Plessis won the player of the match award.
Captain, Leader, RCB.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) April 2, 2023
Kohli at 82* will always be special. Masterclass!
— Shivani Tanna (@shivanitanna9) April 2, 2023
Picture of the day!
King Kohli made Jofra Archer helpless! pic.twitter.com/TiSLlvN9DC
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) April 2, 2023
Kohli + RCB + Chinnaswamy is “magical three words” in the IPL. pic.twitter.com/BJQgYipF05
— Bhawana (@bhawnakohli5) April 2, 2023
NAMMA RCB !
RCB's homecoming can't be more special ❤️ pic.twitter.com/QKQV6rs7Bb— Yashvi. (@BreatheKohli) April 2, 2023
Proper hammering from Bangalore. Mumbai saved by Tilak or this could have looked even more bad. Let's see how they respond. Teams batting first have found it hard to combat on stick wickets, let's see how they adapt to that going ahead.
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) April 2, 2023
At his best he is still the best player in the world to watch .. @imVkohli makes batting look so easy .. @RCBTweets look dangerous !!! #IPL2023
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) April 2, 2023
Virat Kohli – 82*(49)
Faf du Plessis – 73(43)RCB thrashed MI by 8 wickets to start their IPL 2023 campaign 💥🔥#RCB #ViratKohli #FafduPlessis #RCBvsMI #IPL2023 #Cricket
Jai RCB ❤️✊🏻 pic.twitter.com/mdwNURE40j
— Tirupati Tarak 🇮🇳 (@tirupatitarak31) April 2, 2023
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