IPL 2023: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis fire RCB to season opening victory over MI

Virat Kohli (82 not out) and Faf du Plessis (73) were on fire at the Chinnaswamy Stadium as Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Mumbai Indians.

In their first match of the 2023 Indian Premier League in Bangalore on Sunday. du Plessis and Kohli were involved in a 148-run stand as RCB aced a 172-run chase.

This was RCB’s 4th successive win over MI and their 5th in 6 matches since 2020. It was batting of the highest class from du Plessis and Kohli against a quality bowling line-up even without Jasprit Bumrah.

The highlight of the RCB chase was Virat Kohli’s dance down the pitch to dispatch a slower ball from Jofra Archer for a six over long-off. Since that breathtaking shot, there was no looking back for RCB in front of ecstatic home fans.

The IPL returned to Bangalore after 3 years and the fans sure got their money’s worth after a spectacular batting performance from their greatest hero. And what more could they ask for as Kohli went on to become their top-scorer on Sunday, remaining unbeaten on 82 off 49 balls – his innings was studded with 6 fours and 5 sixes.

Virat Kohli was in poor touch in the 2022 IPL but by the end of last year, he had marked a strong return to form with two international hundreds. In 2023, Kohli scored two ODI hundreds against Sri Lanka and then hit a majestic 186 in the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.

RCB captain Faf du Plessis was the more dominant to start with in the opening partnership but Virat Kohli was not to be left behind. He hit Archer for another six in his final over – this time over deep fine leg.

This was vintage Kohli – quick running between the wickets, stunning shots all around the wicket and complete control over the bowling attack. In the course of his innings, Kohli raced away to two more IPL milestones. He is now the second cricketer after David Warner with 50 fifty-plus scores and the third after Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner to hit over 800 boundaries.

At the other end, Faf du Plessis made you wonder why South Africa have kept him out of their white-ball teams. Defending is not the easiest job at the Chinnaswamy Stadium but when bowlers are up against the in-form duo of Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli, they don’t have a chance.

Early in the RCB innings, Jofra Archer dropped a difficult chance off Virat Kohli and there was no looking back for the most prolific run-scorer in the Indian Premier League. Kohli and du Plessis batted MI out of the contest with their flair and experience. The pair was so good and so aggressive that the RCB 50 came off just 4.3 overs.

There was eventually some relief for Mumbai Indians when Arshad Khan got Faf du Plessis. The RCB captain hit a slow length ball from Arshad straight to Tim David at long-on. But by then the damage was already done and it was only a matter of time. Dinesh Karthik was sent up the order at No.3 to finish it off quickly but he was out for a duck, falling to Cameron Green.

But Glenn Maxwell walked in and hit two consecutive sixes while Virat Kohli hit another boundary bring RCB closer to their target. Kohli sealed RCB’s victory with a six off Arshad Khan.

The Mumbai Indians innings was in tatters before 20-year-old Tilak Varma came to their rescue. In a horror start, MI lost Ishan Kishan, Cameron Green, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav inside 9 overs. It was chaotic. The best IPL team in history was trying to make a statement after finishing last in 2022. But without the Pandya brothers and Kieron Pollard, this MI team is still a team in transition.

Ishan Kishan’s struggles since his stunning ODI double hundred in December are now becoming difficult to analyse. After a string of poor scores for India, Ishan Kishan fell to Mohammed Siraj for 10 in the third over of the innings. He was the leading run-scorer for the side last summer and a lot depends on the kind of starts he gets off to with Rohit Sharma.

Cameron Green had fetched a scarcely believable Rs 17.80 crore in the IPL auction but on debut, he failed with the bat. Incidentally, his wicket fell to another IPL debutant Reece Topley. Rohit Sharma did not find any rhythm and failed to make RCB pay for a let-off. The Mumbai Indians captain fell to Akash Deep for 1 off 10 balls as the 5-time champions collapsed to 20 for 3 before the end of the powerplay.

Suryakumar Yadav, who had bagged three golden ducks before the 2023 IPL, is a beast in the T20 format. Ranked No.1 in T20Is thanks to his recent exploits for India, SKY has been a key player for MI over the years. But on Sunday, he fell to an ordinary delivery from Michael Bracewell for 15. It could have been game over for MI had it not been for their second highest run-scorer from last season.

In 2022, Tilak Varma was so impressive that Rohit Sharma said he might get an India look-in soon. Then 19, Tilak had finished the season with 397 runs, just behind Ishan Kishan in the run tally for Mumbai Indians.

In their season opener in 2023, while the big guns failed, Tilak Varma slayed the RCB bowling attack. He hit 9 fours and 4 sixes including a helicopter shot aka MS Dhoni. Tilak’s unbeaten 84 off 46 balls is now the third highest scorer by an MI batter at No.5 or below. And guess which two are above him in that record? Hardik Pandya (91 vs KKR in 2019) and Kieron Pollard (87 not out vs CSK in 2021).

It was an innings of sublime strokeplay. Tilak Varma was unstoppable, picking the gaps with panache and punishing the lose balls with the flourish of an experienced batter used to digging his team out of trouble. Tilak’s sensational knock impressed no less a player than Chris Gayle who is arguably the greatest batsman in the history of the shortest format.

Nehal Wadhera (21) and Arshad Khan (15 not out) played important cameos and helped Tilak Varma finish strongly. But Mumbai Indians would find out that their 171 would not be enough against Royal Challengers Bangalore, only too keen to see their home fans go back home with smiles.