Chennai Super Kings slumped to their fifth loss in seven games, going down by 37 runs against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their Indian Premier League match on Saturday, 10 October.
Choosing to bat first, captain Virat Kohli led from the front with a 52-ball 90* that pushed RCB to 169/4 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
In response, RCB’s bowlers restricted CSK to 132/8 in their 20 overs as the Kohli-led franchise registered their fourth win in six games, moving to the fourth spot in the standings.
Here’s a look at five key players who helped RCB register their biggest win over CSK in the league.
Virat Kohli
After winning the toss and opting to bat, RCB captain Virat Kohli had to walk out to the crease early in the innings after opener Aaron Finch was castled by pacer Deepak Chahar for 2 (off 9 balls).
Despite wickets falling around him, the 31-year-old batted through the innings and pushed his team to a big total. He added 53 runs with opener Devdutt Padikkal, 26 runs with Washington Sundar and 76* with Shivam Dube.
At the 31-run mark, Virat reached 6000 runs for RCB since joining them in 2008 – the most T20 runs scored by a batsman for a team.
He scored his second half-century of the season off 39 deliveries and added 37 runs off the last 13 deliveries he faced. Kohli’s 90-run knock – his highest score this season so far – included four boundaries and four maximums.
Shivam Dube
With the fall of RCB’s third wicket, all-rounder Shivam Dube joined his well-set skipper at the crease in the 15th over.
From there, Dube batted with Kohli till the end of the innings. He scored a 14-ball 22*, supporting his captain, who scored the bulk of the runs in their unbeaten 76-run partnership.
Washington Sundar
All-rounder Washington Sundar could only score 10 runs with bat, but more than made up for it with the ball.
Introduced into the attack in the fourth over, the spinner removed Faf du Plessis for 8 on the final ball. His captain then handed him the ball in the sixth over, and the 21-year-old struck again, cleaning up opener Shane Watson for 14 (off 18 balls).
Sundar returned with figures of 2/16 in 3 overs.
Chris Morris
Playing his first game this season, senior pacer Chris Morris opened the bowling attack and gave away four runs in the first over. He returned mid-innings, and bowled another spectacular six balls, leaking just three runs.
The South African bowler effected a crucial run out as his direct hit from a distance broke the most substantial partnership of CSK’s innings between Ambati Rayudu and N Jagadeesan, sending the latter back to the hut for 33 (off 28 balls).
In the 17th over, Morris got Sam Curran caught behind for a golden duck, giving away just three runs in those six balls. In his final over – the penultimate of the innings – the pacer removed Dwayne Bravo (7) and Ravindra Jadeja (7), finishing with figures of 3/19.
Navdeep Saini
Pacer Navdeep Saini didn’t pick up any wickets but bowled exceptionally to put pressure on CSK’s batsmen.
In his two overs during the Powerplay, Saini leaked just two runs each. He finished his four overs with figures of 0/18 and bowled a total of 16 dot balls during his spell.
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