Faf du Plessis (Photo Source: Twitter)
Match no. 5 of the Indian Premier League 2023 between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore was expected to be a cracker of a contest. However, Mumbai started rather slow at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, losing wickets one after the other and failing to create an impact in the powerplay. While they were already struggling for runs, the RCB skipper Faf du Plessis created more trouble for the visiting side with a stunning catch.
Du Plessis was at his agile best when he grabbed a stunner at mid-off to send back Hrithik Shokeen of Harshal Patel’s delivery in the 18th over. Du Plessis, who is well-known for his superb fielding tactics, ran backward to take a catch over his shoulders as Shokeen walked back with five runs to his name.
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— Sanju Here 🤞👻 (@me_sanjureddy) April 2, 2023
Tilak Varma shines for Mumbai during crunch moments
Talking about the match so far, RCB won the toss and chose to field first at the batting paradise in Bengaluru. While it was expected from Mumbai to post a challenging total for the hosts, they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and failed to stand tall in the first six overs. Big guns like Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav walked back cheaply while adding 1(10) and 15 (16) runs, respectively.
On the other hand, Ishan Kishan could only collect 10 runs before walking back and Mumbai’s most expensive buy Cameron Green went off with just five runs to his name. However, Tilak Varma’s knock was the only bright spot in MI’s batting set-up as he amassed 84* runs to his name and helped Mumbai in a late recovery to post a challenging 171 runs on the board.
While Mohammed Siraj was on point at the start with a wicket to his name, he did leak some runs at the end while bowling an over full of wides. Karn Sharma picked up two wickets for the side.