IPL 2021: Bangalore break Chennai hoodoo

The MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai has been an unlucky venue for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. And defending champions Mumbai Indians, the IPL’s most successful team, have been hard rivals to crack. When those two factors combine, it’s a recipe for disaster.

However, there’s AB de Villiers, one of the most successful batsmen against the mighty Mumbai. And de Villiers yet again stood tall, cracking a brilliant 48 (27b, 4x4, 2x6) to power Royal Challengers to a thrilling two-wicket win in the opening game of the season. Chasing a challenging 160 on a tricky Chepauk pitch, RCB got over the line off the last ball with Harshal Patel scoring the winning run.

It was because of Harshal that RCB had a sniff at victory as the pacer's five-for helped Bangalore restrict the five-time champions to 159/9.

Soon after De Villiers arrived at No. 5 in the 13th over following the dismissal of a well-set skipper Virat Kohli (33, 29b, 4x4), RCB looked in a spot of bother as the dangerous Glenn Maxwell (39, 28b, 3x4, 2x6) also perished in the 15th. At that stage, RCB needed 57 runs but without many batsmen left in the dugout.

De Villiers knew at that stage that he had to get the job done single-handedly. The South African, one of RCB’s most consistent batsmen over the years, did so in an enthralling fashion as RCB ended their Chennai jinx and broke the Mumbai stranglehold. RCB hadn’t won in Chennai in their last five meetings nor had Mumbai lost in their last five attempts at this venue.

Although De Villiers, playing some typically stunning shots, was there almost till the end, his dismissal with two balls to go sent jitters in the RCB camp. Two runs were needed off two balls but Mumbai have pulled off numerous wins from that situation. Mohammed Siraj, though, snatched a leg-bye and a composed Harshal rounded off a fantastic evening by digging out a yorker for a single and a hard-fought win.

Earlier, riding on Harshal’s (5/27) sizzling show, RCB pulled things back nicely in the death after Mumbai laid a solid foundation for an onslaught. With RCB dropping catches galore and Mumbai’s big-hitters waiting to open their shoulders, it looked like their familiar troubles at the death would haunt them.

The 30-year-old Harshal, picked ahead of Navdeep Saini, had other ideas. Landing those yorkers with fine accuracy and mixing then up with well executed slower deliveries, he bowled three brilliant overs at the end. After dismissing Hardik Pandya with a low in-swinging full toss in the 16th, he scalped a well-set Ishan Kishan in the 18th over.

His best was reserved for the final over where he bagged three wickets and conceded just 1 run. He thus became the first bowler to bag a five-wicket haul against the Mumbai Indians.