Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) beat Mumbai Indians (MI) by two wickets in the opening match of IPL 2021. Played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, the match remained a complete thriller till the last ball. Let's take a look at the trends and the predictions and how did it fare.
Mumbai Indians loses first IPL match again
Continuing their tradition of losing the first match of every IPL since 2013, Mumbai Indians' didn't surprise us this time either. Despite a thrilling finish at the end, RCB came on the top and defeated Mumbai by 2 wickets. Ever since 2013, Mumbai Indians' have been losing their first league match of every IPL.
The Chidambaram factor
MA Chidambaran has off-late been a happy hunting ground for Mumbai. The MI won their last five matches being played on this ground. And the other hand, the ground had always been a difficult venue for Royal Challengers Bangalore. RCB had set a record of losing back-to-back all the last five matches they played on this ground.
Glenn Maxwell
Glenn Maxwell has always been an enigma with the bundle-of-talent that he is. However, the Australian cricketer doesn't always translate his cricketing prowess into his performance on the field. Despite playing his first IPL for Delhi in 2012, and since then playing for Mumbai, Punjab and Delhi; the only IPL season where he managed to set the stage on fire was in 2014. In 2014, Maxwell's all-round performance for Punjab took KXIP to the finals which happen to be their only appearance in IPL finals.
For the last few seasons, Glenn Maxwell's batting performance deteriorated severely. So much so that Virender Sehwag went on to call him a "ten crore cheerleader". However, despite the criticisms coming his way, Maxwell was bought at an astronomical amount of Rs 14.25 crores by RCB. And by teaming up with RCB, he went on to break his own dry spell of not hitting a six for 1079 days in yesterday's match. His humongous 100-m six surprised even the likes of Virat Kohli.
