The face-off involving the modern-day batting great Virat Kohli and the world’s premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was the most eagerly awaited contest in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 clash between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.
Bumrah, making his comeback to competitive cricket after nearly four months since the fifth Test match against Australia earlier this year, didn’t open the bowling for MI after RCB were put into bat by Hardik Pandya. Bumrah came into the attack after 3 overs with Devdutt Padikkal on strike who took a single on the first delivery to bring Kohli on strike.
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The Wankhede crowd finally got what it wanted: Bumrah vs Kohli! Bumrah steamed in, and Kohli welcomed the pacer to the attack by moving to the leg-side and pulling the short-pitched delivery over the mid-wicket fence. The ball hit the skirting on the full but it was enough to show Kohli was there to dominate, to make a statement.
Kohli went on to smash a 29-ball fifty reaching to the milestone in the ninth over, which was also the first time that he scored a fifty under 30 balls while batting first in a full-20 over contest in IPL. Not just that, Kohli also became the second-fastest to reach 13,000 T20 runs, only after Chris Gayle.
Bumrah came back in the attack after 10 overs with RCB at 100/2 and Kohli batting on 53. On the penultimate delivery of that over, Rajat Patidar defended an off-cutter and Bumrah collected the ball and mocked a throw at the non-striker's end to run out Kohli. Kohli, after making sure that he was safe inside the crease, crossed over the pitch and gave Bumrah a friendly shoulder-barge. Both India teammates had a smile on their faces as the crowd cheered them on.
Kohli went on to score a 42-ball 67 with the help of 2 sixes and 8 fours before he was dismissed by Pandya after registering his eighth 50+ score at the Wankhede in 22 T20 matches. Bumrah returned wicketless after his 4 overs conceding 29 runs as RCB finished at 221/5 – their second-highest total at the Wankhede after their 235/1 against MI in 2015.
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