Last Updated on 2 months by Charbel Coorey
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) had not beaten Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Chepauk since the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008, sparking widespread reactions. They ended the drought in the most comprehensive fashion, thrashing the hosts by 50 runs in a superb performance on Friday.
The 50-run margin actually flattered CSK with MS Dhoni landing a few late blows. Chasing 197, Ruturaj Gaikwad’s team were never in the hunt, with Josh Hazlewood (3/21) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/20) showing their powerplay might to break the back of the CSK lineup. Yash Dayal (2/18), Liam Livingstone (2/28) and Suyash Sharma (0/32) all kept the pressure on as RCB cruised to a second impressive win this season after thumping Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens last week.
Batting first, RCB had some shaky moments with Virat Kohli struggling for rhythm and Rajat Patidar crucially dropped by Deepak Hooda on 17 and Rahul Tripathi on 19. However, Patidar made CSK pay, hitting a 32-ball 51 to ensure RCB remained on track for a big score.
A bit of a slow down at the backend threatened to see RCB make less than 185. However, Tim David performed his role perfectly, finishing with three consecutive sixes off the last over against Sam Curran to take Patidar’s team to a very competitive 196. In the end, that was far too much for CSK, who suffered their biggest-ever defeat at home in the process.
CSK skipper Gaikwad rued his team’s fielding. On a pitch offering some asisstance for the bowlers, the captain believes RCB were above par. “To be honest, I still feel 170 was a par score on this wicket,” he said, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
“It wasn’t that great to bat [on] but probably bad day in the field cost us really badly. [At the] end of the day, when you’re chasing 170, you bat differently, you kind of have little bit of time when you go in to bat, but when you’re chasing 20 runs extra on a wicket where you know it’s going to be sticky, and going to stop [on the batter] after the ball gets old, you have to bat slightly differently in the powerplay.”
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