Reece Topley. (Photo Source: BCCI/IPL)
Following Royal Challengers Bangalore’s thumping victory against five-time champions Mumbai Indians in their campaign initiator of Indian Premier League 2023, RCB wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik has shared updates regarding the injury scare that hit the Bangalore camp during their earliest endeavour of the tournament. English fast bowler Reece Topley had endured a shoulder injury while fielding in the first match and had to be taken off the field.
Topley exhibited valiant fielding efforts to dive after the ball during the 8th over of Mumbai’s batting when he failed to execute it perfectly and landed awkwardly to bang his shoulder. His shoulder seemed to get rolled, making him excruciate in pain.
Following that, Topley was attended by team physio and medics who took him off the field, thus giving RCB their first play-time injury case of the season.
As RCB won the match with resounding success, veteran wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik shared updates on Topley’s injury in a conversation with JioCinema where he said that Topley’s shoulder did pop out but also went back in eventually.
“It (shoulder) did pop out, but it went back in. I think he went for a scan during the game itself. He’s not in as much pain as we thought he’d be in. We’ll have to wait and see,” said Karthik
Kohli-Faf duo fires on all cylinders as RCB comprehensively defeat MI
RCB started their IPL 2023 campaign on a high as the Faf du Plessis-led side comprehensively defeated Mumbai Indians by 8 wickets. Winning the toss, du Plessis first put Mumbai to bat and wreaked havoc on their top order as the top four was scrapped off by RCB bowlers within less than 50 runs. Four different bowlers claimed wickets to erase MI’s top order comprising Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Chris Green and Suryakumar Yadav.
Young batting sensation Tilak Verma took control of the proceedings to propel MI to a respectable total. He scored an unbeaten 84 off 46 balls, comprising nine fours and four sixes. Apart from Verma, fresher Nehal Wadhera scored a quick gun 21 in just 13 balls, as Mumbai set before RCB a target of 172.
Coming in to bat, RCB took off to a fiery start as both the openers Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis knocked the MI bowlers down for fun. The duo installed a 148-run first-wicket partnership before Arshad Khan dismissed du Plessis on the score of 73, after having hit five fours and six sixes. Kohli, on the other hand, remained unbeaten at 82, adding six fours and five sixes to his name, as RCB chased the total down in just 16.2 overs.