IPL 2021: 3 takeaways from MI's batting against RCB

The Mumbai Indians (MI) were put in to bat by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the opening game of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Harshal Patel's brilliant 5-wicket haul restricted Rohit Sharma's side to just 159/9 on a Chennai pitch that wasn't completely true. Kyle Jamieson and Mohammed Siraj bowled economical spells, as Yuzvendra Chahal threatened but leaked runs at an economy rate of over 10.

The defending champions won't be entirely satisfied with their first innings in IPL 2021. Here are 3 things we learned from MI's batting against RCB in Match 1 of IPL 2021.

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#3 MI miss Quinton de Kock despite Chris Lynn scoring 49

Rohit Sharma and Chris Lynn opened the batting for MI against RCB [PC: iplt20.com]

Quinton de Kock played all 16 games for MI in IPL 2020, and was expected to retain his place at the top of the order despite a rather indifferent run in international cricket.

As the South African quarantined post his arrival in India, Chris Lynn was handed his maiden MI cap. The Aussie opener is one of the most destructive T20 batsmen in the world, and scored 49 off 35 balls to take MI to 159/9. But MI clearly missed the services of De Kock.

Lynn looked all at sea in the powerplay against both pace and spin as he cleared his front leg and cross-batted everything in sight. He got a number of edges that didn't go to hand, and was able to recover from his slump only because of some poor bowling and extras.

Although he scored 49, Lynn is likely to make his way back to the bench when De Kock returns.

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#2 RCB illustrate how to tackle the MI middle order

Hardik and Krunal had off-days with the bat [PC: iplt20.com]

MI's famed middle-order trio of Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya and Kieron Pollard managed a combined 27 runs of 26 balls in the IPL 2021 season opener against RCB.

To a certain extent, the RCB bowlers revealed the blueprint to tackle the MI middle-order batsmen. The slow Chepauk surface helped, but Harshal Patel had his opponents in all sorts of trouble. He delivered a combination of full and short slower balls, bouncers and yorkers to keep a tight leash on the MI batsmen, who didn't find their range at any point.

Patel showed that the best way to tackle Pollard, Hardik and Krunal is to attack them with a bagful of variations - especially at the body - and ensure that they can never predict what the next ball is going to be. Other teams might follow this same blueprint in the future.

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#1 Suryakumar Yadav is in imperious form

Suryakumar Yadav is in the form of his life [PC: iplt20.com]

After coming in to bat at the fall of Rohit Sharma's wicket off the final ball of the 4th over, Suryakumar Yadav got his IPL 2021 campaign off to a stellar start by finding the boundary on the leg-side.

Although the MI No. 3 scored only 31 runs in his first stint at the crease this tournament, he showed enough indications that he's in the form of his life. Hitting 4 fours and 1 six, Suryakumar was never in any sort of trouble. And he would've put away the ball he got out to 9 times out of 10.

Suryakumar's form bodes well not only for MI but also for him to seal a spot in the Indian squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup.