On Sunday, Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Mumbai Indians by an eight-wicket margin to get their IPL 2023 campaign off to a strong start while the first wicket partnership of Virat Kohli and captain Faf du Plessis made 148 runs, as RCB romped home in only 16.2 overs.
In the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Sunday, Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Mumbai Indians by an eight-wicket margin to get their IPL 2023 campaign off to a strong start. The first wicket partnership of Virat Kohli (82 runs; 49b, 6×4, 5×6) and captain Faf du Plessis (73 runs; 43b, 5×4, 6×6) made 148 runs, as RCB romped home in only 16.2 overs.
In the process, Tilak Varma’s stunning 84 off 46 balls that included nine fours and four sixes was not enough to shield MI as the visitors failed to defend the 171.
Suresh Raina on JioCinema praised RCB’s chase.
“The way RCB chased the total down in 16 overs, this will help their run rate later in the tournament,”
said Raina.
“MI’s bowling looked weak. It didn’t even look like a wicket would fall,”
he added.
Former RCB icon Chris Gayle on JioCinema too was impressed with du Plessis and Kohli.
“We know Faf’s class. He’s an excellent captain and an excellent player. He has done it all over international cricket as well, so this is not new to Faf,”
said Gayle
“One thing I can tell you, Virat and Faf are going to feed off each other perfectly. Look at the way they start, they look to drop and run. They pick up their ones and their twos and by the third overcome; they’re ready to take it out. That’s something bowlers and teams got to be aware of because these two, I’ve said this before, you’re guaranteed almost 400 runs.”
RP Singh praised the young Varma, saying that the former did a remarkable job after MI lost quick wickets.
“MI was struggling when he came into bat as the top order was back in the dugout by then. But he did a commendable job of resurrecting the innings and then scoring big himself,”
said former India pacer RP Singh on JioCinema.