The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) finally got their pieces in place and upset Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Dubai, on Sunday.
Ruturaj Gaikwad pulled CSK across the finishing line with an impressive knock of 65*, which came of 51 deliveries. The talented right-hander entertained spectators with four boundaries and three sixes.
Vital contributions from Faf du Plessis and Ambati Rayudu set up CSK’s chase of 146 runs perfectly.
Du Plessis smashed an attractive knock of 25, which came off just 13 balls. The former South African captain smashed two fours and an equal number of maximums.
Rayudu displayed his class with a pivotal knock of 39, which came at a strike-rate of 144. The wristy batsman struck five boundaries in the process (three fours and two sixes). CSK captain MS Dhoni (19 off 21) briefly entertained with his three hits to the boundary.
RCB paid the price for their erratic line and lengths, ending up dishing out several boundary balls. Kohli’s men failed to pick wickets consistently to make something out of the target. Only Chris Morris (1/36) and Yuzvendra Chahal (1/21) were amongst the wickets.
Earlier, RCB skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first and only managed a par score of 145 runs, losing six wickets in the process.
After decent start provided by Aaron Finch (15 off 11) and Devdutt Padikkal (22 off 21),Kohli and AB de Villiers (39 off 36) consumed way too many deliveries to get their eye in.
Consequently, Virat and AB could not get going in the death overs, with some tight wicket-to-wicket bowling from CSK.
Captain Kohli top-scored for RCB with his knock of 50, which came off just 43 deliveries. He brought up his 200th IPL six and 39th half-century in the competition during his enterprise
Seamers Sam Curran (3/19) and Deepak Chahar (2/31) were the best bowlers for CSK as they picked five wickets amongst themselves.
Dhoni weaved a brilliant spin web in front of RCB, with miserly spells from Ravindra Jadeja (0/20), Mitchell Santner (1/23) and Imran Tahir (0/30) helping his cause.
Gaikwad walked away with the ‘Player of the Match’ for displaying his ‘spark’ with the bat.
Brief Scores:
CSK – 150/2 in 18.4 overs (Gaikwad 65*, Rayudu 39) beat RCB – 145/6 (Kohli 50, Curran 3/18) by 8 wickets.
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