After a set of handy cameos helped Royal Challengers Bangalore post a competitive total against Chennai Super Kings, the bowlers put in a clinical performance, defending 174 quite comfortably. RCB, led by former CSK man Faf du Plessis, won against MS Dhoni and co by 13 runs in Pune, returning to winning ways after two losses. RCB also moved into the top 4.
Harshal Patel picked 3 wickets for RCB.
Batting first, the RCB side got off a got start for a change with Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis keeping the scoreboard going. While Faf was the more aggressive, Kohli, who recently got back in form, was finding it a little harder.
Riding on the partnership, RCB reached 57/0 at the end of the powerplay with Faf motoring and good speed, having scored 35 from 17 balls by then. The openers added five more runs before CSK struck in the 8th over.
Moeen Ali had Faf caught in the deep for 38 and soon after the Australian Glenn Maxwell was run-out by a superb piece of fielding from Robin Uthappa and MS Dhoni for 3. The pressure to score quickly was building on Kohli at the other end by the 10th over, and before it ended Moeen castled him for 30.
Mahipal Lomror and Rajat Patidar had their task cut out as they needed to set up the platform for a strong finish. The duo steadied the ship and also kept up with the scoring rate of nearly 8. They put on a 44-run stand in the middle phase of the innings, with the help of a few lusty blows, before Dwaine Pretorius had Patidar caught brilliantly for 21 by Mukesh Choudhary at square-leg.
In walked Dinesh Karthik, and while he wasn’t his usual free flowing self immediately, Lomror was launching into the bowlers at every chance. After a 32-run stand between them, Lomror was dismissed for 42, caught at long on off Maheesh Theekshana in the 19th over. Theekshana sent Wanindu Hasaranga back off the next ball with Gaikwad taking the catch again before Shahbaz negotiated the hat-trick ball. Theekshana though had the last laugh and cleaned up Shahbaz before the end of an over that gave him 3 wickets. RCB weren’t getting the big finish they so badly needed.
DK however finished the innings with a couple of monster sixes in the final over that added 16 to the cause and pushed RCB to 173/8. Karthik finished unbeaten on 26.
In response, CSK openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway got away to a good start, and were of course coming off the back off a record opening stand in the previous outing.
But both did find it tough to get their timing going as the ball was stopping a little, making it a tad bit tougher for the batters. The duo put on a half-century stand and played out the powerplay, before Shahbaz Ahmed struck in the 7th over, sending back Gaikwad for 28.
Robin Uthappa (1) and then Ambati Rayudu (10) both fell to Maxwell as the RCB bowlers started to apply the brakes on CSK.
Moeen Ali joined Conway, who was going about his merry ways, attacking the bowling at every chance, going over the top but also running hard. Conway and Moeen batted through the middle phase of the innings steadying the ship and keeping CSK in the hunt in what was turning out to be a tricky chase.
Together they added 34 runs to the cause as Conway brought up his fifty in the 13th over off Harshal Patel’s bowling, in an over that costed RCB 10 runs. Conway was setting up for a big one but a couple of overs later, he was dismissed for 56 caught by Shahbaz off Hasaranga as he tried to sweep over the top.
The RCB spinners had worked their guile well, much like the CSK bowlers earlier in the day and with the last five overs to go, the batters needed 56 more to win with Moeen playing with Ravindra Jadeja. MS Dhoni was of course yet to come in.
While Moeen attacked from one end, keeping CSK in the chase, Jadeja’s bad form continued to haunt him. Jadeja tried to slog Harshal’s slower one and holed out to Kohli, who took a brilliantly judged catch. Jadeja walked back for 3 as RCB started edging out in front on the home stretch, especially with Josh Hazlewood delivering a 5-run over in the 17th , the one after Harshal’s over.
Harshal followed up Hazlewood’s fantastic over with one more of his own, and also sent back Moeen for 34, caught while trying to go over the mid-off region. In the final 2 overs, CSK needed 39, and the 19th over started with MS Dhoni’s wicket – caught by at deep midwicket off Hazlewood.
Pretorius hammered a couple of big hits before departing for 13 off Harshal, who picked his third wicket in the final over. Theekshana smacked a six before Harshal closed out the over and RCB won by 13 runs.
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