Mumbai Indians cruised to a 6-run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore to open its account in the 12th edition of the IPL at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Chasing 188, Bangalore got off to a brilliant start as openers Parthiv Patel and Moeen Ali charged their side with back to back boundaries before Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma threw a direct hit ball to run-out Ali for 13.
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Bangalore captain Virat Kohli along with Patel (31) and Ab de Villiers hammered Mumbai to pull his side closer to victory.
Just after registering his 5000 runs in the IPL history, Kohli top-edged a Jasprit Bumrah bouncer and Hardik Pandya completed the catch to dismiss Kohli for 46.
An in-form de Villiers, who brought up his 25th half-century in the tournament, recorded his 4000 IPL runs along the way. De Villiers and Shivam Dube tried to take Bangalore over the line but were left stranded on 70 and nine respectively and ended their side’s innings on 181 for the loss of five in their 20 over quota.
Quick-fire innings from all-rounder Hardik powered Mumbai to set 187 for the loss of eight after sent in by Bangalore.
Mumbai openers Quinton de Kock and Rohit were in punishing form, hitting regular boundaries in the power play overs. The duo combined to form a 54-run stand before leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal bowled round the legs to dismiss de Knock for 23.
Rohit then anchored the innings for his side with the support of Suryakumar Yadav as both the batsmen stitched 33 runs together before Mohammed Siraj cupped an extraordinary catch off pacer Umesh Yadav’s delivery to dismiss Rohit for 48.
Suryakumar (38) and Yuvraj Singh (23) in the middle did not let go off the momentum as they added brisk 37 runs. As Yuvraj’s cameo, which saw three sixes, ended off Chahal, Mumbai lost its lower middle-order in quick succession.
Mumbai will visit Mohali to play against Kings Xi Punjab on March 30, while Bangalore will travel to meet Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 31.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 187/8 (RG Sharma 48, SA Yadav 38, YS Chahal 4-38) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 181/5 (de Villiers 70*, V Kohli 48, JJ Bumrah 3-20) by 6 runs.