Chennai, April 9: AB de Villiers smashed a 27-ball 48 and guided Royal Challengers Bangalore to a two-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians in the IPL opener here on Friday.

Sent into bat, Mumbai Indians scored 159 for nine against Royal Challengers Bangalore. In reply, RCB completed the job in the final ball of the match with South African genius de Villiers leading the way.

Medium pacer Harshal Patel was the wrecker-in-chief for RCB, finishing with excellent figures of 5/27 to become the first bowler ever to record a five-for against Mumbai Indians in the lucrative league. MI vs RCB Stat Highlights IPL 2021: Harshal Patel Shines With Five-Fer as Mumbai Indians’ Horror Show in Season Opener Continues.

Opener Chris Lynn top-scored for five-time defending champions MI with a 35-ball 49 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium after Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to field.

Suryakumar Yadav contributed 31 off 23 balls while Ishan Kishan made 28 in only 19 deliveries. Mohammed Siraj gave away just 22 runs in his quota of four overs.

Brief Scores:

Mumbai Indians: 159/9 in 20 overs (Chris Lynn 49, Suryakumar Yadav 31; Harshal Patel 5/27).

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 160/8 in 20 overs (AB de Villiers 48, Virat Kohli 33, Glenn Maxwell 39; Marco Jansen 2/28, Jasprit Bumrah 2/26).

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)