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DE VILLIERS, HARSHAL HELP RCB BEAT MUMBAI IN A THRILLER

A.B. de Villiers smashes a 27-ball 48 to guide Royal Challengers Bangalore to a two-wicket win over defending champions; Harshal Patel scalps five wickets.

A.B. de Villiers smashed a 27-ball 48 to guided Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to a two-wicket victory over defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in the IPL opener in Chennai on Friday.

Sent into bat first, MI scored 159/9 against RCB. In reply, RCB completed the job in the final ball of the match with de Villiers leading the way.

Earlier in the match, Harshal Patel delivered a stunning bowling performance as RCB restricted MI to 159 runs. Harshal scalped five wickets in the innings and gave away just 27 runs from his four overs.

After being asked to bat first, Mumbai Indians got off to a good start with openers Rohit Sharma and Chris Lynn scoring regular boundaries. However, the duo only managed to form a 24-run partnership as Rohit (19) got run out in the fourth over.

Suryakumar Yadav then came out to bat and played brilliantly along with Lynn. Both played with an aggressive mindset and took the team’s score to 86/1 after the completion of 10 overs. In the 11th over, Kyle Jamieson put an end to their impressive 70-run partnership as the pacer dismissed Suryakumar (31). Soon after that, Washington Sundar caught and bowled Lynn, who missed his half-century by one run.

Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya then came out in the middle. However, this partnership also did not last long as Harshal removed Hardik (13) in the 16th over, bringing Kieron Pollard on the field.

RCB bowlers continued their sublime bowling performance and did not allow Mumbai Indians batters to settle. Kishan (28) too was sent back to the pavilion in the 18th over by Harshal. Krunal Pandya then joined Pollard and the duo took the team’s score over the 150-run mark in the 19th over.

Harshal bowled the final over of the innings and dismissed Krunal and Pollard on the first two deliveries. Harshal then bowled Marco Jansen and Jasprit Bumrah got run out on the final delivery of the over.

Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 159/9 (Chris Lynn 49, Suryakumar Yadav 31; Harshal Patel 5/27); RCB 160/8 (Glenn Maxwell 39, AB de Villiers 48; Jasprit Bumrah 2-26)

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