IPL 2023: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians Match 5 - Talking Points and Who Said What?

The breathtaking action continued in the Indian Premier League 2023 on Sunday, April 2 as Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore locked horns with each other in Match 5 at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The home side came out on top in the encounter as they beat Mumbai Indians by a massive margin of eight wickets.

After opting to bowl first, RCB’s bowlers were all over Mumbai’s batters right from the word go as they had them reeling at 48/4 after 8.5 overs. A magnificent innings from Tilak Varma took them to a decent total of 171/7 in their allotted 20 overs.

In reply, RCB openers came out all guns blazing and crushed whatever small hopes Mumbai had of winning the contest. Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli added 148 runs for the first wicket and helped their side chase down the target with 22 balls to spare and won the match by eight wickets. As RCB got their IPL 2023 campaign off to a winning start, let’s take a look at the talking points from the game:

1 RCB’s top-notch bowling

RCB’s bowling gave no respite to Mumbai batters as Mohammed Siraj and Reece Topley started the proceedings with the new ball and other bowlers also came into the game with time. All RCB bowlers except Glenn Maxwell picked one wicket each and kept a tight hold on Mumbai’s batting throughout the innings.

2 Tilak Varma’s sensational knock

After having an incredible debut season in 2022, Varma carried his good form this season as well and scored a magnificent 84 off 46 balls with the help of nine fours and four sixes in his innings. Varma kept on taking the innings forward and was unfazed by what was happening at the other end to help Mumbai post a challenging total of 171/7 at the end of their innings.

3 Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli’s opening stand

Chasing a total of 172, RCB openers started the innings in an emphatic fashion and added 148 runs off 89 balls for the first wicket. Du Plessis scored 73 off 43 balls smashing five fours and six sixes in his innings while Kohli remained unbeaten on 82 off 49 balls smashing six fours and five sixes in his innings. RCB would hope both their openers continue their form going ahead in the tournament.

Losing Skipper, Rohit Sharma said:

Didn’t have a great start with the bat in the first six overs. But, it was a really good effort from Tilak and a few other batters. But, we didn’t execute well with the ball. It was a good pitch to bat on. (On Tilak Verma) He is a positive person, quite talented as well. Some of the shots he played, showed a lot of courage. Hats off to Tilak to get us to a competitive total. It was a good pitch to bat on. We didn’t set any target but we didn't even bat to half of our potential and we got to 170. Probably 30-40 runs more would have been ideal. From the last six to eight months I am used to playing without Jasprit Bumrah. Of course this is a different setup but someone needs to put their hand up and step up. We can't keep dwelling on it. Injuries are not in our control, we can't do much about it. The other guys in the setup are quite talented as well. We need to give them that support. Just the first game of the season, there's a lot to look forward to.

Winning skipper and Player of the Match, Faf du Plessis said:

Nice to start the way we did. In the powerplay, Siraj had the tail up and he set the tone. Right through the innings, our bowlers stuck to the plans. Obviously last 2-3 overs something to improve on. And that second innings, if you want to know how to chase a target, well, that's how you do it. If you took pace off the ball, it wasn't too easy to play and there was something in it for the spinners but as a batter if you got into good positions you could score runs. My first time playing here as a home player and it's a special player, especially batting with Virat Kohli. Energy bounces off him. You have to stay with the youngsters, I still work hard to be able to move around like I could in the young days. The confidence this gives, all of us are confidence players. This start will be huge for us as a team.