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Pushed into batting first, Mumbai crumbled to 48/4 and then to 123/7 at one stage, looking in danger of being shot out for a below-par total. But Varma stood tall and impressed everyone with his skill and temperament in hitting nine boundaries and four sixes at a strike-rate of 182.6, as Mumbai got 69 runs from the last five overs.

RCB are playing their first match in their home ground after three years of absence and are coming into the competition on the back of making the playoffs in the last three seasons. Mumbai, on the other hand, are coming after a bottom place finish in last year's tournament.

Harbhajan Singh, who played for MI in the IPL from 2008-17, termed the match between RCB and MI as the biggest match of the tournament so far and claimed that cricket fans couldn't have asked for a better Sunday treat. "RCB vs MI match is going to be the biggest match of TATA IPL 2023 so far because two superstars Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be up against each other. Add to it, the electrifying atmosphere at Chinnaswamy."

"I have a special relationship with this city. My first ever job was in Mumbai and I scored my first century in Mumbai. Similarly, I want to win the first WPL title with them," she had said in a pre-season press conference.

That was Mark Wood's lone match for Chennai Super Kings, who had bought him for Rs 1.5 crore in the auction in January 2018. He was bought by Lucknow Super Giants for IPL 2022 for 7.5 crore but withdrew from the tournament due to an elbow injury.

Bangalore, set to play their first home game after four years, are sweating over the availability of Rajat Patidar and Josh Hazlewood. Head coach Sanjay Bangar is hoping that Patidar, currently undergoing rehabilitation for a heel injury at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), can be back in action at some point in the competition.

The players from MI reached the garden city on Friday and had their practice session in the evening at the stadium. Captain Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Jofra Archer and others were putting in the long yards. The new signing of the team Sandeep Warrier also joined the squad and following a conversation with the coaches had a bowling session in the nets.

Porel was signed after the franchise had a week-long preparatory camp in New Delhi, which also included trial matches. Porel, a wicketkeeper-batter, has played 16 First-Class matches in addition to 3 List A and as many T20s for Bengal. He has 695 runs to his name in domestic cricket, coming at an average of 30.21, and has affected 58 catches and 8 stumpings in first-class cricket.

Thanks to Issy's efforts, Mumbai reached the final of the competition at the Brabourne Stadium. In the final, three more wickets from Issy, along with bowlers and Nat Sciver-Brunt coming good with the bat meant Mumbai defeated Delhi Capitals to lift the trophy.

Rohit is yet to captain India in overseas Test due to suffering injuries or even Covid-19 and his workload becomes all more important, especially with the World Test Championship final against Australia starting from June 7 at The Oval in London. Asked during MI's pre-season press conference on whether he will rest during games, Rohit quipped, "In terms of me resting, I think Mark will give you an answer to that," he said. To this, Boucher replied, "Do you want to rest?"