Picture Credit: IPL/BCCI
00:01 AM IST: That’s it from the live blog of first match of IPL 2021. Hope you enjoyed the coverage. Join us tomorrow for the highly-anticipated encounter between Rishabh Pant’s Delhi Capitals and MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings. Until then, goodbye.
23:59 PM IST: Harshal Patel receives the 'man of the match' award for his brilliant five-wicket haul. The all-rounder says, "When RCB traded me, they told me that I will be an important part of the franchise. My role will be to bowl in death overs. I just want to be a bowler who takes more responsibility."
23:57 PM IST: Winning captain Virat Kohli: The partnerships between Maxi and me and then between AB and Maxi was really important. It's not a pitch (Chepauk) where you can just hit through the line.
23:51 PM IST: Harshal Patel wins the 'game changer' and 'most valuable player' awards for his heroic spell of 5/27. While Lynn gets an award for hitting the maximum number of sixes, Virat Kohli also bags a prize for his scintillating batting in the powerplay overs.
23:50 PM IST: It's time for the presentation ceremony. Washington Sundar wins the award for 'best catch' of the match for his fantastic caught and bowled to dismiss Chris Lynn. Meanwhile, ABD wins the 'super striker' award.
23:42 PM IST: MI skipper Rohit Sharma admitted that they were 20 runs short in the first innings. On the other hand, AB de Villiers was extremely delighted with RCB's performance on Friday. He said, "It was an incredible game of cricket. It was an absolute pleasure playing alongside Maxwell."
23:26 PM IST: The first match of the season ended on the last delivery as RCB went on to win the thrilling encounter by 2 wickets, courtesy ABD's heroic knock of 48 runs off 27 deliveries.
22:48 PM IST: Mumbai Indians make their way back into the contest as debutant Marco Jansen dismisses Glenn Maxwell and Shahbaz Ahmed in the 15th over.
22:36 PM IST: Jasprit Bumrah introduced into the attack by Rohit Sharma and produces a crucial breakthrough. The MI bowler dismissed Virat Kohli for the fourth time in history of IPL.
22:09 PM IST: RCB Skipper Virat Kohli (23* off 17) has reached the incredible milestone of 6,000 runs as captain in T20 cricket.
22:05 PM IST: Krunal Pandya gives MI the crucial breakthrough as he dismissed Sundar (10 off 16). RCB's debutant Rajat Patidar walked out to bat at No. 3, whose innings ended after Trent Boult castled his stumps. To everyone's surprise, Glenn 'Big Show' Maxwell has come out to bat ahead of AB de Villiers.
21:39 PM IST: Washington Sundar walks out to open the innings, alongside skipper Virat Kohli who has seemingly recovered from the injury. RCB's chase begins in dramatic style as Rohit Sharma drops an easy catch off the bowling of Trent Boult, giving Sundar another lifeline.
21:20 PM IST: Harshal Patel becomes the first bowler to take a 5-wicket haul against Mumbai Indians. His spell (5/27) restricts Mumbai Indians to 159/9 after the end of 20 overs in Chennai.
21:06 PM IST: Unbelievable! Virat Kohli misses a sitter and seemed to have injured himself as the ball went straight through his hands, hitting him below his eye.
21:03 PM IST: After dismissing Hardik Pandya, RCB's all-rounder Harshal Patel continues his impressive spell as he gets the crucial wicket of Ishan Kishan in the 18th over.
20:42 PM IST: Since 2018, MI's all-rounder Hardik Pandya has an incredible strike rate of 155 in his first 10 deliveries. The 27-year-old just smashed a cracking boundary off the bowling of Dan Christian.
20:34 PM IST: Lynnsanity in Chennai comes to an end. Washington Sundar takes a brilliant catch off his own bowling to dismiss Chris Lynn, who unfortunately missed out on his maiden fifty for MI (49 off 35)
20:25 PM IST: RCB's 15 crore new signing Kyle Jamieson takes his first-ever IPL wicket. The Kiwi dismissed in-form Suryakymar Yadav (31 off 23).
20:20 PM IST: Defending champions' score after the end of 10 overs - 86/1
20:09 PM IST: MI launches counter-attack after the dismissal of Rohit Sharma. They added 40 runs in 18 deliveries to take their score to 70/1 after the end of 8 overs.
19:57 PM IST: Suryakumar Yadav announces his arrival to IPL 2021 with a four off the first delivery. Notably, SKY has smashed a boundary off the first ball of his innings in six of his last 11 T20 innings.
19:45 PM IST: Virat Kohli has introduced Yuzvendra Chahal to the attack. The RCB leg-spinner’s record against Rohit Sharma in IPL before this match (29 runs, 31 balls, 1 wicket).
19:43 PM IST: MI skipper Rohit Sharma hits the first boundary of IPL 2021.
19:32 PM IST: Mumbai Indians have not lost an IPL game in Chennai since 2012. The first delivery of IPL 2021: Mohammed Siraj to Rohit Sharma.
19:09 PM IST: Let's look at the Playing XI of both sides:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (capt), Rajat Patidar, AB de Villiers (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Daniel Christian, Washington Sundar, Kyle Jamieson, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (capt), Chris Lynn, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Marco Jansen, Jayant Yadav, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
19:07 PM IST: "Looks a good track", says MI skipper Rohit Sharma. Lynn and Jansen are the only two changes from their title-winning squad in IPL 2020.
19:05 PM IST: Unbelievable," says Kohli after winning the toss. The skipper says that the side has batting depth for good chasing this year and that the decision was a no-brainer. Maxwell, Jamieson and Christian are making their debuts. Padikkal misses out as he is still recovering from COVID-19. Rajat Patidar makes a debut.
19:01 PM IST: BREAKING NEWS: Virat Kohli has won the toss, finally! The RCB skipper has opted to bowl first.
18:55 PM IST:
5 minutes left for the toss now. Mumbai Indians have handed caps to Marco Jansen and Chris Lynn. We can expect some fireworks at the top order.
18:40 PM IST: Good Evening fellas! D-day is finally here. It feels like yesterday when Mumbai Indians lifted their fifth IPL title? Can they do that again? Rohit Sharma and Co. would be hoping so. 2-month of cricket-packed action and then WTC and then the T20 World Cup. This year is filled with cricket entertainment and we are here to give you all the updates.
Match Details:
Date: April 9, 2021
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Venue: M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Preview:
The opening day of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League will witness Mumbai Indians go up against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The battle between Rohit Sharma’s serial winners and skipper Virat Kohli’s popular squad will light up the first day at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Mumbai Indians would want to start the season with positivity after winning their fifth title just months back. Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bangalore will also look forward to getting the best possible start by beating the most decorated team.
While Mumbai remain to be fan favourites, it will be interesting to see how a revamped Bangalore squad levels up their challenges. Notably, following the mini-auction and player withdrawals, squads will be quite different from the last season. Here are the changes in squad from both sides -
Mumbai Indians Squad
Players available from last season
Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Chris Lynn, Dhaval Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Mohsin Khan, Quinton de Kock, Rahul Chahar, Rohit Sharma, Saurabh Tiwary, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Players Added
Adam Milne, Arjun Tendulkar, James Neesham, Marco Jansen, Piyush Chawla, Yudhvir Charak.
Royal Challengers Bangalore Squad
Players available from last season
AB de Villiers, Adam Zampa, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Pavan Deshpande, Shahbaz Ahmed, Virat Kohli, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Players Added
Daniel Christian, Glenn Maxwell, KS Bharat, Kyle Jamieson, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Rajat Patidar, Sachin Baby, Suyash Prabhudessai.
Key Players for the fixture:
Jasprit Bumrah
The Indian speedster was the top wicket-taker for the title-winning side in 2020. Bumrah scalped 27 wickets in 15 matches at an average of 14.96 and an economy of 6.73.
Yuzvendra Chahal
Bengaluru's spin whiz was the side's leading wicket-taker last season. With Indian pitches in the play again, one can expect a similar performance this season. Chahal bagged 21 wickets in 15 games at an economy of 7.08.
Probable XI
Mumbai Indians:
Rohit Sharma (c), Chris Lynn, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan (wk), Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
Virat Kohli (c), Mohammed Azharuddeen, AB de Villiers (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Rajat Patidar, Dan Christian, Washington Sundar, Kyle Jamieson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj