The Royal Challengers Bengaluru star Virat Kohli has been once again dismissed for a golden duck, this time off the bowling of Deepak Chahar against the Mumbai Indians. Virat was right up there with the top run-getters of the season but two ducks would significantly affect his tally. Last time out, it was Prince Yadav who bowled an absolute peach of a delivery to get rid of the King and this time, Virat Kohli hit it straight to Raj Angad Bawa for a soft dismissal. He wouldn’t be entirely bothered about it as he has been in sensational touch all season and two ducks won’t change the contribution he has made at the top of the order.

RCB were a little bit too tentative at the start with a couple of early blows and they could have gone for a cautious approach with the moving ball. Deepak Chahar’s ability to swing the ball is undoubtedly brilliant and Virat Kohli could have taken a ball or two to get set in the crease. The delivery to get rid of Devdutt Padikkal was an extremely good one and there is very little the batter could do about it. The wicket of Patidar is yet another false shot on this pitch and with a decent total on board, there is absolutely nothing that could explain his shot-making.

Mumbai Indians fight back after Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s fiery spell as RCB chase 167 to reclaim the top spot

The Mumbai Indians didn’t really make the most of the first innings as they couldn’t get a partnership going to really trouble the RCB bowling unit. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was simply unplayable today as he picked up 4 big wickets. Ryan Rickelton was dismissed in the very first over of the game and then they lost two wickets soon after, including the golden duck of Suryakumar Yadav. Tilak Varma and Naman Dhir did get a decent partnership going in the innings but Rasikh Salam bowled a brilliant slow ball to rattle the stumps of Naman Dhir. RCB conceded less than 20 runs in the last 3 overs and that limited the Mumbai Indians to just 166 after the 20 overs.

A couple more wickets could be needed for the Mumbai Indians to get back into this game as it is a relatively low score and the duo of Krunal Pandya and Jacob Bethell could carry the side. RCB on the other hand, will be hoping that these two can stay at the crease for as long as possible and maybe leave a couple of runs to be hit at the back end for the finishers. They still have Tim David and Romario Shepherd to come in the batting unit and they will be confident about the batting depth they have. RCB could go up to the top of the table with a win here at Raipur and that will be the ultimate aim for the defending champions.