It was a usual season opener for the defending Champions Mumbai Indians as they lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore by 2 wickets in a dramatic last ball finish at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Friday.

Having been put into bat first by RCB, the five time IPL Champions scored 159/9 in their 20 overs. In reply the RCB chased down the target on the last ball and started off their campaign with a victory. This was MI's 9th consecutive loss and RCB's first win at an IPL season opener.

AB de Villiers and Harshal Patel were the star performers for the RCB. AB smashed a quick fire 48 off 27, featuring 4 fours and 2 brilliant sixes that helped RCB steal the game from MI in an exciting chase. Harshal Patel on the other hand did the damage with the ball, clinching 5 wickets while only conceding 27 runs from his 4 over spell. Patel thus became the only second uncapped player to claim a 5 wicket haul in the IPL.

Virat Kohli opened for the RCB along with Washington Sundar (10 off 16) sharing a 36 run stand for the first wicket before the latter fell prey to Krunal Pandya. RCB lost its second wicket in the form of Rajat Patidar (8 off 8). Captain Kohli and Glenn Maxwell then drove RCB's scorecard near 100 before Kohli got out on 33 off 29 as his side struggled at 98/3. 

Maxwell too made his way to the pavilion after scoring a decent 39 off 28 balls, hitting 3 fours and 2 sixes while RCB was at 103. RCB kept losing wickets at regular intervals shifting the momentum on MI's Side.

RCB needed 38 runs from their final 3 overs with their go to man AB at the crease, the South African great took RCB close to the finish line hitting 4 fours and 2 sixes in his 48 runs from 27 deliveries turning the tides in favour of his side in just 2 overs attacking Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya. His power hitting forced Rohit Sharma to finish his main bowler, Jasprit Bumrah's 4 overs before the final over, from which 7 were required. Harshal Patel sealed the game for RCB by clinching a single from the final ball. 

From Mumbai Indians, Marco Jansen and Jasprit Bumrah took 2 wickets each with figures of 2/28 and 2/26 respectively.

Earlier, MI while batting first lost their first wicket at the score of 24 with captain Rohit Sharma getting run out from a powerful throw by Kohli while he was finding his rhythm at 19 off 15 deliveries. His opening partner Chris Lynn along with Surya Kumar Yadav put a partnership of 70 runs for the 2nd wicket and provided the MI some stability in their innings.

Later Surya Kumar fell prey to Kyle Jamieson after scoring 31 off 23 runs that included 4 fours and a six. Lynn was the top scorer for the MI with 49 runs to his name including 4 fours and 3 sixes before he was caught and bowled by Washington Sundar.

MI's inning scattered from there on as they kept losing wickets on regular intervals. Hardik Pandya 13 off 10, Kieron Pollard 7 off 9, Krunal Pandya 7 off 7, a duck each from Jansen and Rahul Chahar all put up disappointing shows as MI from a comfortable 94/2 could only manage 159 at 9 from their 20 overs.

RCB's Kyle Jamieson and Washington Sundar got a wicket each with figures of 1/27 and 1/7 respectively while Harshal Patel was adjudged the Man Of the Match for his brilliant fifer that featured 3 wickets in the final over itself to restrict a powerful MI side to a manageable total.