IPL 2021 MI Vs RCB: The 14th season of the Indian Premier League has started with a very exciting match. The defending champions Mumbai Indians suffered a two-wicket defeat at the hands of RCB in the match reached on the last ball. Batting first in front of RCB, Mumbai had set a target of 160 runs, which Virat Kohli's team won on the last ball of the 20th over. De Villiers played an important contribution in the victory of RCB by playing an innings of 48 runs. Harshal Patel, who sent five batsmen from Mumbai Indians to the pavilion, was elected man of the match.

This is the ninth consecutive season when the team of Mumbai Indians started with a defeat. However, RCB has managed to win the opening match for the first time. RCB had previously played season openers in 2008, 2017 and 2019 as well, but has won for the first time.

Chasing a target of 160, Kohli opened the innings with Washington Sundar (10). Both added 36 runs for the first wicket. On 46 runs, Bangalore also lost the wicket of Rajat Patidar (8) but after this the captain and Maxwell took close to 100 of the score. Even before that, Kohli was dismissed for a total of 98 runs. Kohli hit four fours on 29 balls.

De Villiers took over the charge

Maxwell was also dismissed for a total of 103. Maxwell hit three fours and two sixes in 28 balls. Bangalore then lost wickets at frequent intervals and this made Mumbai's side heavier.

In the final three overs, Bangalore needed 38 runs. De Villiers was on the wicket. He took the team very close to victory. He was run out when three balls were needed. Devillers hit four fours and two sixes in 27 balls. Now Bangalore needed two runs off two balls, which Harshal Patel (4 not out) completed. For Mumbai, Marco Jenson and Jasprit Bumrah took two wickets each.

Harshal Patel's magic worked

Earlier, Royal Challengers Bangalore stunned Mumbai Indians for 159 runs on the basis of Harshal Patel's (5-27) excellent bowling. Mumbai's team lost four wickets in the last over of the innings. Three came to Harshal's account while one was run out. Mumbai's team managed to score 159 runs losing 9 wickets in 20 overs. Chris Lynn scored the highest innings of 49 runs for Mumbai Indians. Apart from this, Suryakumar scored 31 and Ishaan Kishan scored 28 runs.

Harshal conceded 15 runs in his first over but took five wickets for just 12 runs in the subsequent three overs. Harshal took five wickets for the first time in T20 cricket.