Royal Challengers Bangalore

Siraj finished with 1-21 in his four overs, with a crucial wicket of opener Ishan Kishan, who gave MI an excellent start. He got the early breakthrough for RCB as he had Kishan caught at third man in the third over. He had bowled a tight first over, giving away just two runs.He could have had the big wicket of Rohit Sharma inside the powerplay as the MI captain top-edged a pull but a miscommunication between Siraj and Dinesh Karthik led to a collision and the ball fell between them.

As RCB took the field in Chinnaswamy Stadium after 1247 days, chants of the franchise engulfed the whole arena. To their credit, RCB didn't disappoint at all, as bowlers got wickets in power-play and middle overs to keep Mumbai to 171/7, though young Tilak Varma shined with an outstanding 84 not out off just 46 balls.

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."

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.

In a star-studded RCB Unbox event held at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday, De Villiers along with West Indies legend Chris Gayle was honoured by the franchise by being inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Bangalore-based franchise also retired their jersey numbers -- De Villiers's No 17 and G'yle's No 333 as a mark of respect for their contributions.

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the team management allowed the fans to watch the full squad practice session at the RCB Unbox on Sunday. The excitement was palpable among the fans, who were eagerly waiting for their favorite team to return to the pitch. Around 30 thousand fans turned up at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and couldn't believe their luck as they walked into the stadium to watch their heroes in action.

As per the Impact Player rule, all ten teams need to identify five substitutes who are Indian players apart from the playing eleven during toss time. Out of the substitutes named, only one player can be used as an Impact Player. A team can bring an impact player before the start of the innings or after the completion of an over. In the case of a batter, the change can be done at the fall of the wicket or the batter retiring at any time during the over.