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The IPL 2021 got off to the perfect start as Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated defending Champions Mumbai Indians by 2 wickets in a thrilling match that went down to the wire.
Having restricted Rohit Sharma's men to 159/9 thanks to some terrific death bowling by Harshal Patel (5/27), RCB managed to get over the line on the last ball of the match thanks to an AB de Villiers classic (48 off 27 balls) that made sure they survived a late Jasprit Bumrah (2/26) inspired MI comeback.
Harshal Patel proved to be the match winner as he grabbed 5 wickets to restric Mumbai under 160. Virat was understandably delighted with the former Delhi Capitals allrounder's heroics with the ball. Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Virat Kohli said:
"We brought Harshal in a trade from Delhi. He is relishing the responsibility and is clear with his plans. He was the difference today. He is going to be our death bowler. As a captain you want players with clarity, and he has that. Jamieson started off well, Yuzi was good, Siraj was good too.
Man of the match Harshal Patel was the major reason behind RCB's comeback after MI seemed to be heading towards a big score, thanks to some fiery batting by Chris Lynn (49), Suryakumar Yadav (31) and Ishan Kishan(28).
In the three overs Harshal bowled in the death, he first picked up the wickets of Ishan and Hardik Pandya before scalping Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard and Marco Jansen in the last over of the innings.
MI had streamrolled their opponents on the way to lifting the IPL trophy last year, and winning their first match against such a well-oiled unit must surely give a lot of confidence to Virat's men going forward. The RCB skipper said as much.
"It was important to play against the strongest side in the competition and test our side. Everyone was involved in this game, and when you win by two wickets, it means that everyone has gone in and played. A lot of options for me as well that helped bringing the game back.
Glenn Maxwell's innings was the gamechanger: RCB captain Virat Kohli
Virat also had good things to say about RCB's 14.25 crore recruit Glenn Maxwell and the reason behind sending him to bat at number 4.
Before ABD's rescue act, it was Maxwell's 39-run knock of just 28 balls along with Kohli's watchful innings (33 off 29 balls) which helped RCB gain momentum and move ahead in the game.
"We wanted Maxi to bat at four. The thinking was that we wanted to give Maxi some balls at the start and not get him slogging rightaway. You saw the result today of him playing 10-15 balls. His innings was the game-changer. Had he stayed in we would've finished a couple of overs earlier.
Virat also lavished praise on star batsman AB de Villiers, who has time and again played crucial knocks to help RCB win plenty of close encounters.
"The opposition then gets nervous about AB. We have depth in the batting which we want to utilize. AB is probably the only one in the team who is so versatile. And he does it on slow wickets what not many can do. In a tricky chase you need experience at the back, and the opposition knows that if he doesn't get out, the bowlers get in a different headspace", concluded Virat Kohli.
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