Indian Premier League (IPL) has returned to the home and away format this season and so far the home team has had an upper hand in three out of the four matches. From what has one witnessed in the fifth match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Mumbai Indians at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, seems like at this stage it is the Faf du Plessis-led side who would be the happier team.
After inviting Mumbai Indians to bat first, the Bangalore side removed three MI batters within the powerplay. Ishan Kishan was removed by Mohammed Siraj and Cameron Green was bowled by Reece Topley. Rohit also departed in the sixth over but even before that there was an opportunity to get him out which the Bangalore side, in a rare instance on the field, couldn't quite hold on.
Siraj induced a false stroke from the MI skipper but as the ball was up in the air wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik and the bowler collided, giving the batter a chance. However, he couldn't make the most of it eventually departing for 1 off 10 balls. Akash Deep got Rohit out caught behind.
The video of Karthik and Siraj's collision on the field has surfaced on social media.
Take a look:
Mumbai Indians have a poor record in the first match of the IPL historically and this match seems to be quickly drifting away from them. However, the stand between Nehal Wadhera and Tilak Varma worth 50 runs has given some hope to MI and with a set Tilak Varma out in the middle, the five-time champions would hope to come out on top after finishing with a competitve total on board.
For Bangalore, leg-spinner Karn Sharma picked 2 wickets while Reece Topley, Siraj, Michael Bracewell and Akash Deep have picked a wicket each so far.