The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) played their 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign opener on Sunday night against Mumbai Indians (MI), and made an electrifying start to the match. Mohammed Siraj drew first blood as he removed attacking left-handed opener Ishan Kishan in the third over of the innings, and the side’s newest acquisition, Cameron Green was castled by Reece Topley in the very next over.
Rohit Sharma, too, failed to make a mark as he departed on 1 off 10 deliveries. The Mumbai Indians had a debutant in Nehal Wadhera who came to bat following the departure of Suryakumar Yadav (15), and impressed the fans even as he had a short stay at the crease. During the 14th over of the innings, Nehal Wadhera produced an incredible shot against spinner Karn Sharma, as he dispatched the fourth delivery of the over for a monstrous six that went as far as 101 meters at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
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Karn Sharma had pitched the ball significantly outside the off-stump and Wadhera, ready to launch the maximum, got into shape and smashed the delivery over the long-on boundary. The ball hit the roof of the stadium, eventually covering a distance of 101m.
Here is the video of the shot from Nehal Wadhera:
A 1⃣0⃣1⃣m maximum followed by a wicket!
Karn Sharma gets Nehal Wadhera who looked in impressive touch 👌👌
The fifty partnership gets broken at the right time for @RCBTweets 💪
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/ws391sGhme#TATAIPL | #RCBvMI pic.twitter.com/7rI6T46aTz
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 2, 2023
However, just as Nehal Wadhera was getting into the groove, he was dismissed on the very next delivery; this time, Karn kept the ball closer to the batter’s body, and Wadhera, in a bid to repeat the same shot, couldn’t get the timing right as he was caught by Virat Kohli.
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Earlier, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper, Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bowl first in Bengaluru. The side took the field with Faf, Topley, Glenn Maxwell, and Michael Bracewell as its four overseas players in the game. Bracewell – a replacement player brought in for Will Jacks earlier this month – also opened his account in the IPL as he took the crucial wicket of Suryakumar in the 9th over.
