IPL 2021: What happened in the last meeting between RCB and MI at Chennai in 2011?
Over the years, IPL giants Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore have played out some thrilling encounters. The two teams will now clash in the first match of IPL 2021 on Friday. Chennai's M.A. Chidambaram Stadium is set to host this highly-awaited clash.
In the IPL's early years, RCB maintained a competitive win-loss record against the Mumbai Indians. But in the recent past, MI has dominated matches between these two sides. In their last ten IPL meetings, MI have won 8 matches, while RCB have managed just two wins.
Across 27 games, the Mumbai-based franchise have won 17 clashes while RCB ended on the winning side on ten occasions.
The presence of numerous match-winners across both teams' batting line-ups makes it a difficult task to predict the winner this time around. RCB superstars Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have a stellar record against MI and have scored 695 and 634 runs, respectively, against the reigning champions.
When was the last IPL match between MI and RCB in Chennai?
Chennai has hosted RCB vs. MI on just two occasions. Coincidentally, both the matches took place in 2011. The first instance was in the 2nd qualifier of IPL 2011 IPL and saw RCB emerge victorious in the contest. Chris Gayle's Player of the Match performance 89 (of 47 balls) helped RCB set a daunting 186-run target for the Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai Indians.
Mumbai faltered in the chase and ultimately succumbed to the pressure of a knockout game. Apart from a counter-attacking inning of 40 (of 24 balls) from Sachin Tendulkar, none of the other MI batters crossed the 20 run mark. Daniel Vettori's RCB side won the game comfortably by 43 runs.
The second instance came later that year in October, and the stakes were even higher. The two teams squared off in the summit clash of the 2011 Champions League tournament. Mumbai Indians were missing the services of two of their primary batsmen, Rohit Sharma and Sachin Tendulkar, for that game.
After Harbhajan Singh opted to bat first after winning the toss, the inexperienced Mumbai batting line-up struggled and could muster only 139 runs at the end of 20 overs. Former Kiwi all-rounder James Franklin batted at No.4 and top-scored for MI with 41(of 29 balls). In reply, the RCB batting line-up had no answer to MI's bowlers and were bundled out for 108 in 19.2 overs.
The ever-reliable Malinga picked up two wickets after conceding just 23 runs in his four overs. Spinners Harbhajan Singh (3/20) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2/9) spun a web around the RCB batsmen and played a crucial role in their team's title-winning effort.
Ten years later, Yuzvendra Chahal is now the leader of RCB's bowling attack and will be rearing to perform well against his former franchise.