IPL 2021: 3 Masterstrokes By Virat Kohli That Helped RCB To Beat Mumbai Indians In A Thrilling Contest

Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers’s Bangalore managed to get past the line with two wickets in hand against the Mumbai Indians in a nail-biting season opener of IPL 2021. Harshal Patel‘s fifer helped a lot to restrict Mumbai and he remained not out until the chase completed and deservedly won the man of the match.

AB Devilliers’s blinder of an innings had a major impact on RCB’s win with a 48 run knock of 27 deliveries. He studied the ship when RCB almost collapsed and he was unfortunate to be dismissed run out. Here are 3 masterstrokes by Virat Kohli that helped RCB in beating MI.

3 Masterstrokes By Virat Kohli That Helped RCB In Beating Mumbai Indians:

Playing Harshal Patel Ahead Of Navdeep Saini:

Virat Kohli opted to play Harshal Patel ahead of Navdeep Saini and the All-rounder Harshal Patel exploited the slow pitch to his advantage and brought all the variations up his sleeve to get ahead of the batsman. He almost picked up a hat trick in the 20th overs with three wickets in four deliveries and got his first five-wicket haul in his IPL career.

He finished with figures of five wickets for just 27 runs and by chipping in with regular wickets, he stopped the run flow at one end. Mumbai found it hard to hit him and eventually managed to get only 160 on the board which once looked like getting to 180 easily. Kohli’s decision indeed worked in the favour of RCB and Harshal Patel provides a batting option down the order too.

Opening The Batting Himself:

Virat Kohli noted in the England series about moving up to open in T20 cricket and he did open with Washington Sundar at the top for RCB. It means that Kohli who is one of the best batsmen in the RCB lineup will face a lot more deliveries and he will get the much-needed time to build up the perfect platform with the big hitters to come.

Devdutt Padikkal’s return at the top will make it perfect for the RCB lineup and the side looks a lot more formidable. Kohli’s best season in 2016 saw the Indian skipper open and he had a lot of time to hit centuries. He finished with 33 off 29 balls with four boundaries and played second fiddle to Maxwell in a good partnership that provided the right momentum to chase down the target.

Promoting Glenn Maxwell In The Batting Order:

The Australian explosive batsmen Glenn Maxwell proved to be the game-changer in the batting lineup and his form was very crucial to RCB’s plans for the year. Maxwell played very calculative shots and he took on the spinners in the extra cover area which is very rare for him.

His 39 off just 28 balls laid the foundation for de Villiers to take RCB home and he hit two sixes and three fours in the innings. He hit a humungous six which went 100 meters and played a lot of reverse sweeps which were very effective He came ahead of de Villiers and the decision from Virat Kohli turned to be a masterstroke.