Virat Kohli Celebrates as RCB Defeat MI; Hardik and Rohit's Reactions Catch Attention

Virat Kohli was thrilled as Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Mumbai Indians to maintain their excellent start to the IPL 2025 season.

Tilak Varma, who was retired hurt by the Mumbai Indians in their previous match, hammered a half-century off 26 balls and added 89 runs for the fifth wicket with Hardik Pandya. Still, their efforts were in vain as Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated the five-time winners by 12 runs in Match 21 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 on Monday.  Varma smashed a magnificent 56 off 29 balls, and skipper Hardik Pandya blasted 42 off 15, propelling Mumbai Indians from requiring 132 off 56 balls to 41 off 18.  However, RCB's stunning comeback ended as Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned Varma, and Josh Hazlewood caught Hardik in the final overs.

Mumbai surrendered after requiring 28 runs from 12 balls. Krunal Pandya grabbed three wickets in the last over, including Mitchell Santner, who hit a six off Hazlewood, and Deepak Chahar off consecutive balls.

Though Boult escaped the hat-trick delivery, a vast, and Naman Dhir hit a four to make it 12 needed off two balls to send it to a super over, two off consecutive balls, Krunal got Naman Dhir on the fifth ball to record a thrilling victory over MI in a thriller.

Krunal Pandya finished with 4-45, while Yash Dayal (2-46) and Hazlewood (2-37) bowled well to limit Mumbai Indians to 209/9 after quickfire half-centuries by Virat Kohli (67) and Rajat Patidar (64) helped RCB post a massive 221/5 to win their first game at the Wankhede Stadium since 2015 and break a 10-year jinx.

After being hammered by RCB hitters, the Mumbai Indians found themselves in difficulty, with Rohit Sharma (17 off 9) and Ryan Rickelton (17 off 10) falling to Dayal and Hazlewood.  Will Jacks got a start and scored 22 from 18 balls, while Suryakumar Yadav (28 from 26 balls) struggled to score against Krunal and Suyash Sharma, and Mumbai lost the match.

Though Tilak Varma, who struggled to hit boundaries against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and had retired, and Hardik struck some stunning shots to put Mumbai back on track, everything unraveled owing to Krunal Pandya's brilliance.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru got off to a quick start when asked to bat first despite losing Phil Salt (4) to Trent Boult on the second ball of the encounter.

Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli scored 91 runs for the second wicket, with boundaries and sixes off Bout, Deepak Chahar, Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, and Vignesh Puthur.  Padikkal hit back-to-back sixes past mid-on and mid-wicket in Chahar's second over, followed by a four.  By the end of the power play, RCH had scored 73.1 in six overs.

Padikkal left for 37 off 22 balls, hitting eight boundaries and two sixes, but Virat Kohli smacked eight fours and two sixes, one-off Bumrah and one-off Puthur, this one hit on one knee, to bring in his 29-ball fifty.

Pandya destroyed his India teammate's dreams of scoring his first century of the season. Naman Dhir took an easy catch at deep mid-wicket after Kohli miscued a back-of-length ball wide outside off, attempting to create a boundary behind square on the leg side.  Kohli struck 67 off 42 deliveries, his second half-century of the season.  Liam Livingstone went for a two-ball duck to Pandya, but Patidar and Jitesh Sharma helped RCB to a large total.

Patidar delivered some outstanding shots in a show of pure power striking.  He scored 50 runs off 25 balls and combined 69 runs with Jitesh Sharma for the fifth wicket.

Patidar and Sharma smashed Pandya for 23 runs in the 17th over, with the former hitting two sixes and a four off consecutive deliveries and the latter helping himself to a four.  They hammered Boult for 15 runs in the 19th over before the New Zealand bowler caught Patidar for 64 on an attempted scoop by keeper Ryan Rickelton.

Jitesh Sharma produced a pair of massive blows as he remained unbeaten on 40 off 19 balls, smashing Bumrah for a stunning six on the last delivery to help RCB reach a high total.