Royal Challengers Bangalore won the last ball thriller against Mumbai Indians.
The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) began with an absolute nail-biter as the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) won the last ball thriller against five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in Chennai, thanks to the legendary batsman AB de Villiers.
The Bangalore-based franchise decided to go with their new recruit Rajat Patidar at No. 3 and Glenn Maxwell at No. 4 and moved de Villiers to No.5. Even though he scored a 27-ball 48 and almost took his team over the line himself, former India batsman Yuvraj Singh was not convinced with this tactic.
IPL 2021: "Very excited to play another IPL with RCB," says AB de Villiers
“Don’t understand @ABdeVilliers17 batting at no 5 !!? Man shruggingyour best batsmen after opening have to come at no 3 or no 4 in t20 just an opinion #MIvRCB #IPL2021,” the southpaw wrote on Twitter.
Don’t understand @ABdeVilliers17 batting at no 5 !!? ????♂️your best batsmen after opening have to come at no 3 or no 4 in t20 just an opinion #MIvRCB #IPL2021
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) April 9, 2021
When skipper Kohli was asked about the change in their batting order, he explained, “The opposition gets nervous about AB. We have depth in the batting which we want to utilise. AB is probably the only player who's so versatile and can do what he did on slow pitches today, so we have to understand.”
After beating the defending champions, Virat Kohli and his men will be taking the field on 14 April as they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the same venue in Chennai.