Twitter Reactions: Tilak Varma's brave knock in vain as Du Plessis-Kohli duo shines bright to give RCB clinical victory

Royals Challengers Bangalore thrashed Mumbai Indians by eight wickets in the fifth match of the Indian Premier League 2023 (IPL) on Sunday, April 2. Mumbai Indians managed to post a challenging total of 171/7 with Tilak Varma scoring a sensational fifty while batting first. But Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis put in impressive knocks to guide the hosts to a memorable win at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Faf won the toss and invited the travelling side to bat first. Cameron Green, Jofra Archer, Nehal Wadhera, and Arshad Khan made their debuts for Mumbai while the Royal Challengers gave caps to Michael Bracewell ahead of Kiwi opener Finn Allen.

Bangalore bowlers were impressive from the start and added early pressure on Mumbai with Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, and Cameron Green's wickets in powerplay overs. Mohammad Siraj dismissed struggling Kishan in the third over to give RCB an opening. 

Rohit seemed unsettled and managed to score just one run off ten balls. Akash Deep put Rohit out of his misery in the sixth over as RCB completely owned the powerplay overs. Tilak then single-handedly soaked the pressure to produce his career-best T20 knock. He smashed 84* off just 46 and finished the innings with a big six off Harshal Patel to put Mumbai in a comfortable position.

But unlike RCB, Mumbai's much-changed bowling attack struggled for the wickets. Openers Virat and Faf took early control to ensure a big win for the Royals Challengers. The duo pulled off a 148-run stand for the opening wicket as they displayed quality T20 cricket to treat the home fans.

Arshad gave Mumbai a consolation wicket in form of Faf's wicket in the 15th over when Bangalore needed just 24 runs to win. Faf scored 73 off 43 and RCB lost Dinesh Karthik on a duck in the next over. But Kohli and Glenn Maxwell avoided further damage and finished the game with 22 balls to spare. Kohli top-scored with 82* off 49 with six fours and five sixes and finished the game in style.

Here is how Twitter is reacting to Royal Challengers Bangalore's big win over Mumbai Indians:

Mayur@133_AT_Hobart

King #ViratKohli𓃵 finishes off in style. #RCBvMI

11:08 PM · Apr 02, 2023

679140

V I P E R™@VIPERoffl

Virat kohli and 82* a beautiful love story ❤️

11:12 PM · Apr 02, 2023

475153

CricketMAN2@ImTanujSingh

This is Virat Kohli's Chinnaswamy - The King of World Cricket.

11:12 PM · Apr 02, 2023

34949

Johns.@CricCrazyJohns

Well played, Faf Du Plessis. 73 runs from 43 balls, A knock to remember, what a start to the season for the captain.

10:52 PM · Apr 02, 2023

2.6K237

DIPTI MSDIAN@Diptiranjan_7

Faf Du plessis show is here !! 🥵🥵

10:34 PM · Apr 02, 2023

62367

Mufaddal Vohra@mufaddal_vohra

What a lovely moment - Tilak Verma's family was over the moon. Beautiful video!

09:45 PM · Apr 02, 2023

6.3K654

Mufaddal Vohra@mufaddal_vohra

A helicopter shot by Tilak Verma on the final ball. What an innings, take a bow, Tilak!

09:31 PM · Apr 02, 2023

8.6K665

Royal Challengers Bangalore@RCBTweets

HOMECOMING and how! A clinical run chase today! 🤌 Brilliant start to our season🫶 #PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2023 #RCBvMI

11:17 PM · Apr 02, 2023

2.6K539

Mumbai Indians@mipaltan

Not the start we wanted! 😔 We'll be back stronger 👊 #OneFamily #RCBvMI #MumbaiMeriJaan #MumbaiIndians #IPL2023 #TATAIPL

11:19 PM · Apr 02, 2023

8910

Akshat@AkshatOM10

Virat Kohli himself smashed 82 runs but the first thing he said was “tilak batted really well”. What a guy. ❤️ #RCBvMI #ViratKohli𓃵

11:15 PM · Apr 02, 2023

67993

Royal Challengers Bangalore@RCBTweets

First 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣-run partnership of the season! 🔥 How lucky are we to witness all this at the Chinnaswamy 🥹 #PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2023 #RCBvMI

10:34 PM · Apr 02, 2023

4.3K662