Mumbai Indians (MI) suffered a crushing eight-wicket defeat at the hands of Royals Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their IPL 2023 opener at Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday (April 2).
Asked to bat first, the five-time champions rode on Tilak Varma’s unbeaten 84 off 46 balls to post 171/7 on the board.
In reply, RCB openers Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis took the MI attack to the cleaners, adding 148 runs for the first wicket. While the RCB captain was dismissed for 74 off 43 balls in the 15th over, Kohli stayed unbeaten on 82 off 49 balls to take the hosts over the finishing line with 22 deliveries to spare.
After this lacklustre performance, MI skipper Rohit Sharma said they can't keep thinking about Jasprit Bumrah's absence as he urged other bowlers in the side to step up and deliver
Mumbai Indians rely on their overseas pacers Jofra Archer, Cameron Green, and Jason Behrendorff to deliver goods in the absence of Bumrah, who has been ruled out of the season due to recurring back injury.
However, Archer conceded 33 runs in four overs while Behrendorf gave away 37 runs in three overs and Green was belted for 30 runs in two overs.
"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," Rohit said after MI's 8-wicket loss.
The captain heaped praise on 20-year-old Tilak Varma, who was the lone fighter with the bat for MI.
"He (Tilak) 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," he added.
Mumbai Indians will take on Chennai Super Kings in their next clash at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday (April 8).
