IPL 2023: Shane Bond admits MI bowlers were off the boil

Updated On: 04 April, 2023 06:59 AM IST | Bangalore | R Kaushik

Du Plessis and Kohli ensured none of that happened with a roaring opening stand that shut out all escape routes for last year’s last-placed side.

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Shane Bond

Eleven. That’s the number of consecutive seasons in which Mumbai Indians have now lost their opening game of an Indian Premier League campaign. The latest in that sequence came at a boisterous M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday night, with the man they love to love in this part of the country whetting the appetite of the Bangaloreans with a fabulous salvo that, the fans are hoping, is a sign of things to come. Virat Kohli treated a capacity crowd to a spectacular exhibition of shot-making in the company of his skipper Faf du Plessis, muscling Royal Challengers Bangalore to an eight-wicket win with 22 deliveries to spare, the victory as commanding as those numbers suggest.

Varma boost for Mumbai

Tilak Varma had single-handedly boosted Mumbai Indians to 171 for seven on being put in, his unbeaten, match-high 84 the only bright spot in an innings that stuttered and spluttered once the outstanding Mohammed Siraj had stifled the big guns during a Powerplay spell of 3-0-5-1. On a good batting track and confronted with a small ground and a lightning quick outfield, Mumbai’s only shot at an unlikely victory was by striking early, and in bunches. Du Plessis and Kohli ensured none of that happened with a roaring opening stand that shut out all escape routes for last year’s last-placed side.

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