The kind of batting line-up the Royal Challengers Bangalore have, they can chase any score around 150 in most of the occasions. But against a formidable side like the Chennai Super Kings, it’s never going to an easy one and, it proved to be so.
After CSK made 148 for nine, not many doubted about RCB’s ability to chase down the winning total. In the end, it turned out a bit of a damp squib. RCB were all out for 124 as CSK won their seventh match of this year’s IPL in style.
CSK could achieve this win because of several factors, a combination of good batting in the middle-order, tight bowling from the pacers which was backed by some sharp fielding. But the most important factor was the self-belief of CSK captain MS Dhoni, who knew from the beginning that a score of 140 plus on a Chepauk wicket is always going to be a difficult chase.
He not only played a breezy knock to take the grand score to a respectable position after Suresh Raina and Faf du Plessis built a solid foundation early on. Even some late charge from Pawan Negi was helpful for the team.
RCB, without Chris Gayle, was in great hurry to finish off things. Barring their captain Virat Kohli, none of their batsmen had the grit to stand tall in front of the CSK bowler. After Ishwar Pandey took two early wickets, two runs outs followed, pushing RCB on the back-foot.
At one point of the match, RCB were slowing inching toward the target when the Kohli-Dinesh Karthik partnership blossomed. But good bowling and sharp fielding from CSK took care of things.
Veteran pacer Ashish Nehra ran through of the middle and lower order along with Dwayne Bravo to complete the formality. In all, it was a brilliant team effort that saw CSK winning the match comfortably.
