IPL 2021- Harshal Patel and ABD shine as RCB beat Mumbai Indians in season opener

 | Updated: Apr 09, 2021, 11:58 PM IST

Royal Challengers Bangalore have won their first-ever season opener in the Indian Premier League after beating defending champions Mumbai Indians by two wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Take a look: 

Mumbai bat first!

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and decided to bowl first. Mumbai Indians got off to a steady start as openers Rohit Sharma and Chris Lynn smashed few boundaries. However, skipper Sharma departs after getting run-out after a tragic mixup. 

Suryakumar Yadav came to bat and continued his sublime form. He along with Chris Lynn stitched a crucial 70-run partnership before Kyle Jamieson dismissed Yadav. 

(Photograph:Twitter)

Quick dismissals for Mumbai

Lynn followed Yadav as he soon was dismissed by Sundar and was one run short of a half-century. He scored the most runs for Mumbai Indians in this match after scoring 49 runs off 35 balls (four 4s, three 6s). 

After Lynn's dismissal, Pandya and Ishan Kishan tried stabilising the innings. However, Harshal Patel's fifer restricted Mumbai Indians to 159 runs. In the 20th over, Patel scalped three wickets and conceded in one run (one run out). 

(Photograph:Twitter)

Harshal Patel -- the hero!

In IPL 2021, Harshal Patel was given the responsibility to keep the run flow in check. The pace all-rounder was able to grab his opportunity with both hands as he scalped five wickets and conceded only 27 runs in the opening match against Mumbai Indians in Chennai. The 30-year-old used the slower ball and yorker to good effect. It was a memorable match for Patel, who got the first five-wicket haul of the tournament and hit the winning runs on the last ball to complete a Bangalore win. He is also the orange cap holder with 17 wickets in the seven matches for Bangalore.

(Photograph:Twitter)

The Sundar experiment

In return, RCB tried experimenting by sending Washington Sundar to open alongside Virat Kohli. However, the experiment failed as the all-rounder just scored 10 runs. Despite losing couple of early wickets, Royal Challengers were off to a strong start. Maxwell and Virat's partnership was proving fatal for the Mumbai Indians. 

(Photograph:Twitter)
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Boom Boom Bumrah!

But Jasprit Bumrah provided a much needed breakthrough by dismissing skipper Kohli. Marco jansen brought Mumbai back into the game after dismissing Glenn Maxwell and Shahbaz Ahmed in one over. 
 

(Photograph:Twitter)

Superman to the rescue

However, AB De Villiers stayed till the end and smashed 48 runs off 27 balls! Harshal Patel got the winning run and ended the season opener jinx for Royal Challengers Bangalore and take them on top of the IPL table.

(Photograph:Twitter)