Virat Kohli’s blistering innings (90*) and a combined effort from all the bowlers have ensured a dominating victory for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Chennai Super Kings by 37 runs. The latter has faced their fifth defeat of the season and further damaged their chances of getting into the play-offs.
RCB’s skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first. He didn’t get an ideal start as opener Finch got out in the third over. Then, Kohli himself built the score by creating a 53-run stand with another opener Devdutt Padikkal. When they were set, Shardul Thakur gave a big break to the CSK by dismissing both Padikkal and AB de Villiers in one over. Later, Kohli decided to run a one-man show as no other big batsman is left. With enough support from Shivam Dube and Washington Sunder, Kohli gave RCB a defendable score of 169/4.
Chennai Super Kings had a slow start while chasing this modest total. RCB bowled very tight and never let CSK batsmen hit hard. On top of that, both the CSK openers Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis fell inside the powerplay. Then, Ambati Rayudu and N Jagadeesan played well for a while and built a good partnership. However, they failed to create a big one as Jagadeesan fell in the 15th over. In the very next over, Dhoni got out as well. After that, Sam Curran got out for a golden duck. Then, CSK’s loss became inevitable. Eventually, even Rayudu got out as well. In the end, CSK made 132/8 in 20 overs.
Scoreboard:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 169/4 (V Kohli 90*, D Padikkal 33, S Thakur 2/40)
Chennai Super Kings: 132/8 (A Rayudu 42, N Jagadeesan 33, C Morris 3/19)