First day of the Indian Premier League was exciting because....

By K.R. Nayar 

Royal Challengers beat Mumbai Indians in a thriller on Day 1 of the IPL. Here are five interesting nuggets from that exciting match.

Man of the Match Harshal Patel. Photo: Courtesy IPL

Man of the Match had all plans to settle in the USA

Who is Harshal Patel, the man of the match?  Like the many Patels from Gujarat, Harshal Patel too had all plans to settle in the USA with his family, but something pushed him to stay back and take up cricket as a career. Although he played for India in the Under-19 World Cup in 2010, he failed to find a place in the Gujarat Ranji Trophy team. Then he went on to play for Haryana and produced eight-wicket spells against Karnataka and Rajasthan in the 2011-2012 Ranji Trophy season. And when Royal Challengers picked him to be used as their death bowler, he delivered. On the first day of the IPL 2021, he became the first player to pick a five-for against Mumbai. Interestingly, this statistic was news to Patel and he said: “I didn't know I was the first to get a five-for against Mumbai. This is my first five-for in 98 matches, and to get it against a team like Mumbai Indians is special.” Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli has declared: “Those last six overs with the ball were probably the best we've ever had. Harshal is relishing the role. He is going to be our designated death bowler.”

Tall Marco Jansen in action. Photo:  Courtesy IPL 

Who is Mumbai’s six-foot-eight-inch tall Marco Jansen?

Marco Jansen bowled brilliantly for Mumbai Indians and picked the prize wickets of Glenn Maxwell and Shahbaz Ahmed giving away just 28 runs from his four overs. After the match, Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma said: “Jansen is definitely a talent we've identified.” This 20-year-old South African allrounder s 6ft 8in tall and bowls left-arm pace and bats right hand. He has played only 14 first-class matches and is yet to play for South Africa in international cricket. In 2018, before the start of the Johannesburg Test, he had bowled to Virat Kohli at the nets and beaten him thrice. In fact, he had received a 'well bowled' appreciation from Kohli after that. It was Mumbai Indians' talent hunters who followed his exploits and picked him once they identified his potential of bowling at over 140kmph.

Glenn Maxwell's reverse swat six. Photo:  Courtesy IPL 

Mr 360 degree De Villiers hails Glenn Maxwell

AB De Villiers is known to hit a delivery for a boundary or a six towards any direction on the field. That’s what fetched him the nickname Mr 360 degrees.  After De Villers top-scored for Bangalore with a crucial 48 runs, he praised Glenn Maxwell (39 runs) as someone who can play stunning shots. After the match, De Villiers said: “Absolute pleasure playing alongside Maxwell. I love playing with players like him, fantastic to have someone like that bat ahead of me.”  Maxwell had hit a reverse swat off Rahul Chahar that cleared deep point for a six. In the last IPL in the UAE, Maxwell could muster only 108 runs from his 11 innings and did not hit a single six while playing for Kings XI Punjab.

Two sparkling run-outs 

Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma got run out following a mix-up with Chris Lynn. After Lynn tapped the ball to the left of Kohli at cover, Rohit wanted a quick single. Lynn was hesitant and Kohli swooped on the ball and threw it to the bowler. Unfortunately, Rohit had gone too far to beat that throw. Thus the first wicket to fall in IPL 2021 was through a runout. But the run-out of the match was undoubtedly the one from Krunal Pandya that got the wicket of AB De Villiers. Despite a full-length dive, De Villiers could not beat Krunal's throw. After the match, De Villiers sportingly praised Krunal saying: “There was an easy two (runs) in my opinion, but as I started it felt like I was running backward! Krunal got it spot on with the throw.”