Kohli, Plessis crush Mumbai Indians

Bengaluru: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) got off to a flying start in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 as they secured an eight-wicket win over Mumbai Indians (MI) in Bengaluru on Sunday. Chasing 172, Kohli and Du Plessis gave RCB a perfect start as the pair added 148 in 14.5 overs, before Du Plessis was removed by Arshad Khan for 73(43). Cameron Green then packed Dinesh Karthik for 0, before Glenn Maxwell (12* off 3) joined the party. Kohli returned unbeaten on 82 off 49 balls, which include six 4s and five 6s.

Earlier, young left-handed batter Tilak Varma smashed an unbeaten 84 off just 46 balls to steer Mumbai Indians to 171/7 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, here on Sunday.  Pushed into batting first, Mumbai crumbled to 48/4 and then to 123/7 at one stage, looking in danger of being shot out for a below-par total. But Varma stood tall and impressed everyone with his skill and temperament in hitting nine boundaries and four sixes at a strike-rate of 182.6, as Mumbai got 69 runs from the last five overs.

Ishan Kishan gave Mumbai a nice start by slamming Reece Topley twice through cover for a brace of boundaries. But Kishan fell in the third over, as his attempt to flick off Mohammed Siraj took a fat leading edge to short third man. Cameron Green started well with a drive, but was cleaned bowled by a Reece Topley yorker on the third ball of the fourth over. Siraj could have had Rohit Sharma caught with a sharp bouncer, but he collided with Dinesh Karthik as neither of the two could hold on to the catch in the fifth over.  But Rohit, who also survived a direct hit attempt in the second over, was unable to capitalise on the two breathers and nicked behind off Akash Deep in the final over of power-play.