Mumbai Indians's IPL 2023 season got off to a disastrous start as they were handed an eight wicket defeat by Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy stadium.
While Challengers ticked all the boxes in their opening encounter, five-time champions Mumbai were left with a lot of unanswered questions by the end of the match.
After being sent into bat first, the MI top order failed to fire and lost the plot of the match early in the game.
In the powerplay, Mumbai Indians was reduced to 29/3. That set the tone of the match as the Challengers dominated the proceedings in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Tilak Varma was the only one to fire for the visitors. Though Varma hammered an unbeaten 46-ball 84, it wasn't enough for Rohit Sharma's side.
Invited to bat, MI Opener Ishan Kishan was the first to depart. Mohammed Siraj set the ball rolling as he picked up Ishan for just 10 off 13. MI lost another wicket in the very next over.
Making his IPL debut, Cameron Green departed for just 5 off 4 courtesy Reece Topley's yorker in the fourth over.
Rohit was next to depart. He played a painfully slow knock before Akash Deep removed the MI captain for just 1 off 10.
T20 specialist Suryakumar Yadav failed to come to Mumbai's rescue, returning to the dugout for 15 off 16. At one point, MI looked like they wouldn't cross the 150 mark.
Varma's knock saw MI post 171, which the Challengers made it look like a walk in the park.
The RCB bowlers fired in unison, with the Challengers turning out five different wicket-takers in the match.
After restricting MI, RCB Openers Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis put up a stellar show as the home team chased down the target with 22 balls to spare.
While MI are the most successful team in the IPL, their lacklustre show in the opener saw Challengers begin their hunt for a maiden IPL trophy with a cracking win.
