Harshal Patel the star, as RCB trump defending champions Mumbai Indians in a nervy run-chase

They might not have the best of records in their opening game of an IPL season, but beating Mumbai Indians comes as a major box ticked for RCB. A returning Harshal Patel produced magic at the death overs and a familiar face in AB de Villiers at the death starred as RCB registered a nervy victory to kick-off the IPL 2021 season in style.

There was no huge glamour surrounding his arrival, but now it’ll be hard to ignore his presence. If death overs have constantly been slandered as RCB’s Achilles heel over the years, Harshal’s arrival certainly appears to have addressed the issue. All of his 5 wickets came in the last 25 balls of the innings. Mumbai Indians’ campaign in 2020 relied on them maximizing the death overs. And the Haryana pacer’s spell broke that reliable bank of runs. The last 6 overs for the defending champions yielded just 39 runs as they lost 6 wickets in that time.

If Harshal solved the death bowling conundrum, it was Maxwell who did exactly what he was brought in to do. The run rate in the middle overs had been a source of worry for RCB, and the enigmatic Aussie seemed finally at home, pulling out all his tricks. A 28-ball 39 is the kind of innings that provided the 160 run-chase the kind of impetus required. Alongside Captain Virat Kohli, the Australian stitched a crucial 52-run stand that put the run-chase on course.

But the champion side they are, Mumbai had a lot left in their tank to make a comeback. Bumrah broke the partnership, trapping the skipper leg-before, and when Maxwell soon fell to a Marco Jansen slower delivery, the panic stations would have started blaring warning signals.

Who better than AB de Villiers to have in the middle to calm those nerves down? He had been away since the last IPL, but he showed no signs of ring rust. He took on Rahul Chahar first with the required rate nudging 11 and dragged it down to 39 off the last 4. Then he took down Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah to bring the required runs to 7 off the last over. Despite a second run which brought his innings to an end, the Protean superman had done enough for Harshal Patel to aptly finish off the game.

The performance at the death with the ball was even more impressive considering the Mumbai Indians had settled into a familiar rhythm in their innings. After Mohammed Siraj and the debutant Kyle Jamieson kept things tight at the top, Virat Kohli put the cherry on top, running out his opposite number Rohit Sharma. However, Suryakumar Yadav and Chris Lynn brought Mumbai back into the game with some brisk runs in the middle overs, even putting them ahead of the game slightly at the halfway mark.

RCB pick up two crucial points from the first game while defending champions Mumbai Indians find themselves in a familiar position. A close encounter with ebbs and flows well woven into it, the season premiere gave the perfect glimpse of what to expect over the next 2 months.