RCB Beats MI In Last-Ball Thriller; Harshal Patel, de Villiers Roar

IPL 2021 began on the same thrilling note that is expected from the tournament as Royal Challengers Bangalore overturned cricket pundits' analysis by beating Mumbai Indians in the last-ball thriller. Emerging as hero, RCB's uncapped player Harshal Patel took a fifer to contain MI on 159/9. He also became the first bowler to take a 5-wicket haul versus Mumbai. Losing toss and put to bat first, MI suffered early jolt as skipper Rohit Sharma departed in 4th over. To everyone's surprise, MI that is known for pinch hitting stumbled in the last overs while RCB, known for poor death bowling, wrapped Mumbai's middle and lower order in quick. Chasing a target of 160 on the slow pitch, RCB went on with a changed opening pair of Kohli-Washington Sundar. Although, RCB also suffered early losses, fiery innings of Glenn Maxwell (39 off 28 balls) and ever-performing AB de Villiers (48 off 27) helped the team to secure a run-a-ball target scenario.