Report: M24 - RCB vs CSK
Match Recap
MS Dhoni produced one of his special knocks to help his team Chennai Super Kings chase down a stiff target of 206 set by the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday night. Courtesy Dhoni’s unbeaten 70, and an equally important 82 by Ambati Rayudu, CSK got past the finish line with two balls to spare. The 5-wicket win took CSK to the top of the VIVO IPL 2018 standings, and left RCB with two wins from six matches.
CSK lost the opener Shane Watson early in their run-chase, and then slipped to 74-4 before a 101-run partnership between Rayudu and Dhoni revived the chase. After Rayudu was dismissed in the 18th over, the CSK skipper was left with the responsibility of finishing the job. He did in style, depositing Corey Anderson for a six over long-on.
Earlier in the evening, put into bat, RCB got off to a sound start with captain Virat Kohli and Quinton de Kock adding 35 runs for the opening wicket. After Kohli was dismissed, caught at mid-on, de Kock stitched a 103-run partnership with AB de Villiers. Both batsmen were very aggressive at the crease, and hit several balls out of the park; their second-wicket stand contained 10 sixes – several of them from de Villiers’ willow. That partnership was broken in the 14th over when de Kock drove one straight back to Dwayne Bravo, who gleefully accepted a return catch; the left-hander made 53 from 37 balls.
In the following over, de Villiers was dismissed too; he creamed 8 sixes and 2 boundaries in his 30-ball 68. Cameos from Mandeep Singh (32 from 17 balls) and Washington Sundar (13* from 4 balls) took RCB past the 200-run mark, eventually to 205-8. RCB had scored 52-1 in the powerplay overs, added 90 runs in the middle period, and a further 63 runs in the final five overs.
Standout batting performance
From 74-4 at the end of nine overs, only a typical MS Dhoni innings could win the match for CSK. And, while the odds were against him and the required run-rate climbing all the time, Dhoni managed to do the job that he has so often done in the past. The CSK captain opened his account in style, depositing the second ball he faced into the stands at long-on. He remained busy and was on the lookout for runs all the while, but every time the bowlers made the error of bowling a length delivery or full delivery, he took full toll and sent the ball into orbit; Dhoni hit sixes off pace and spin, and on one occasion sliced an almost-yorker-length delivery and put it out of the ropes at thirdman.
Dhoni reached his half-century off 29 balls, and finished the night unbeaten on 70 – made from 34 balls His innings contained one boundary and seven sixes – the last of them taking his team past the finish line.
Notable Support Act – Batting
Ambati Rayudu seems to have added an extra gear to his batting. In the seasons gone by, when given the opportunity of batting in the top-order, he would play the role of sheet anchor, look at batting long and score at just over a run-a-ball. But this season, he has batted aggressively right from the word go. On Wednesday night, he began aggressively, hitting three sixes and two boundaries, and raced to 31 off the first 18 balls. He then settled down and looked to rotate strike, keeping his team in the contest. He got to his half-century 40 balls, and opened up thereafter, hitting a flurry of sixes. While Rayudu was severe on any width on offer, and punished anything short in length, he also played a few delightful drives through extra-cover – a couple of which travelled the distance.
In all, Rayudu’s 53-ball 82 – which would be his highest score in the IPL – contained 3 fours & 8 sixes. Rayudu’s innings was terminated when Umesh Yadav scored a direct hit from point and caught the batsman short of his ground at the striker’s end.
Standout bowling performance
For Chennai Super Kings, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir and Dwayne Bravo all chipped in with two wickets each, but the two bowlers who absolutely bossed the match and left the field with their heads held high were RCB’s Umesh Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Umesh, whose performances this season have oscillated between excellent and poor, had yet another brilliant outing. He ran in hard, was able to bowl with good pace, and generated steep bounce on a few occasions. It was one of his fuller deliveries though that earned him the wicket of Suresh Raina; the batsman attempted to work towards the leg-side, but the ball found the leading edge of the bat and lobbed to the fielder at point. Umesh bowled out his four overs in the first seven, and returned figures of 4-0-23-1; his spell contained 12 dot balls.
Later in the CSK innings, the leg-spinner Chahal – who was thrust into action just after the powerplay and bowled four overs on the trot – was impressive; he outsmarted the batsmen with his approach, varied his pace and extracted turn off the pitch too. Despite beginning his spell with a boundary, he returned strongly immediately, having Sam Billings stumped off the very next delivery. The RCB leg-spinner would add the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja (bowled) and finish with outstanding figures of 4-0-26-2.
Stat of the Match
There were two wicket-maidens in the RCB innings; so in effect, they scored 205 off the remaining 18 overs.
The 103-run partnership between Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers would be RCB’s best partnership of VIVO IPL 2018.
Brief Scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore 205-8 (Quinton de Kock 53, AB de Villiers 68, Mandeep Singh 32, Dwayne Bravo 2-33, Imran Tahir 2-35, Shardul Thakur 2-46) lost to
Chennai Super Kings 207-5 in 19.4 overs (Ambati Rayudu 82, MS Dhoni 70*, Yuzvendra Chahal 2-26) by 5 wickets.
Man of the Match:
MS Dhoni, for his match-winning 70 not out (34 balls, 1 four, 7 sixes)
Rayudu, Dhoni help CSK overpower RCB
Match Recap
MS Dhoni produced one of his special knocks to help his team Chennai Super Kings chase down a stiff target of 206 set by the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday night. Courtesy Dhoni’s unbeaten 70, and an equally important 82 by Ambati Rayudu, CSK got past the finish line with two balls to spare. The 5-wicket win took CSK to the top of the VIVO IPL 2018 standings, and left RCB with two wins from six matches.
CSK lost the opener Shane Watson early in their run-chase, and then slipped to 74-4 before a 101-run partnership between Rayudu and Dhoni revived the chase. After Rayudu was dismissed in the 18th over, the CSK skipper was left with the responsibility of finishing the job. He did in style, depositing Corey Anderson for a six over long-on.
Earlier in the evening, put into bat, RCB got off to a sound start with captain Virat Kohli and Quinton de Kock adding 35 runs for the opening wicket. After Kohli was dismissed, caught at mid-on, de Kock stitched a 103-run partnership with AB de Villiers. Both batsmen were very aggressive at the crease, and hit several balls out of the park; their second-wicket stand contained 10 sixes – several of them from de Villiers’ willow. That partnership was broken in the 14th over when de Kock drove one straight back to Dwayne Bravo, who gleefully accepted a return catch; the left-hander made 53 from 37 balls.
In the following over, de Villiers was dismissed too; he creamed 8 sixes and 2 boundaries in his 30-ball 68. Cameos from Mandeep Singh (32 from 17 balls) and Washington Sundar (13* from 4 balls) took RCB past the 200-run mark, eventually to 205-8. RCB had scored 52-1 in the powerplay overs, added 90 runs in the middle period, and a further 63 runs in the final five overs.
Standout batting performance
From 74-4 at the end of nine overs, only a typical MS Dhoni innings could win the match for CSK. And, while the odds were against him and the required run-rate climbing all the time, Dhoni managed to do the job that he has so often done in the past. The CSK captain opened his account in style, depositing the second ball he faced into the stands at long-on. He remained busy and was on the lookout for runs all the while, but every time the bowlers made the error of bowling a length delivery or full delivery, he took full toll and sent the ball into orbit; Dhoni hit sixes off pace and spin, and on one occasion sliced an almost-yorker-length delivery and put it out of the ropes at thirdman.
Dhoni reached his half-century off 29 balls, and finished the night unbeaten on 70 – made from 34 balls His innings contained one boundary and seven sixes – the last of them taking his team past the finish line.
Notable Support Act – Batting
Ambati Rayudu seems to have added an extra gear to his batting. In the seasons gone by, when given the opportunity of batting in the top-order, he would play the role of sheet anchor, look at batting long and score at just over a run-a-ball. But this season, he has batted aggressively right from the word go. On Wednesday night, he began aggressively, hitting three sixes and two boundaries, and raced to 31 off the first 18 balls. He then settled down and looked to rotate strike, keeping his team in the contest. He got to his half-century 40 balls, and opened up thereafter, hitting a flurry of sixes. While Rayudu was severe on any width on offer, and punished anything short in length, he also played a few delightful drives through extra-cover – a couple of which travelled the distance.
In all, Rayudu’s 53-ball 82 – which would be his highest score in the IPL – contained 3 fours & 8 sixes. Rayudu’s innings was terminated when Umesh Yadav scored a direct hit from point and caught the batsman short of his ground at the striker’s end.
Standout bowling performance
For Chennai Super Kings, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir and Dwayne Bravo all chipped in with two wickets each, but the two bowlers who absolutely bossed the match and left the field with their heads held high were RCB’s Umesh Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Umesh, whose performances this season have oscillated between excellent and poor, had yet another brilliant outing. He ran in hard, was able to bowl with good pace, and generated steep bounce on a few occasions. It was one of his fuller deliveries though that earned him the wicket of Suresh Raina; the batsman attempted to work towards the leg-side, but the ball found the leading edge of the bat and lobbed to the fielder at point. Umesh bowled out his four overs in the first seven, and returned figures of 4-0-23-1; his spell contained 12 dot balls.
Later in the CSK innings, the leg-spinner Chahal – who was thrust into action just after the powerplay and bowled four overs on the trot – was impressive; he outsmarted the batsmen with his approach, varied his pace and extracted turn off the pitch too. Despite beginning his spell with a boundary, he returned strongly immediately, having Sam Billings stumped off the very next delivery. The RCB leg-spinner would add the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja (bowled) and finish with outstanding figures of 4-0-26-2.
Stat of the Match
There were two wicket-maidens in the RCB innings; so in effect, they scored 205 off the remaining 18 overs.
The 103-run partnership between Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers would be RCB’s best partnership of VIVO IPL 2018.
Brief Scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore 205-8 (Quinton de Kock 53, AB de Villiers 68, Mandeep Singh 32, Dwayne Bravo 2-33, Imran Tahir 2-35, Shardul Thakur 2-46) lost to
Chennai Super Kings 207-5 in 19.4 overs (Ambati Rayudu 82, MS Dhoni 70*, Yuzvendra Chahal 2-26) by 5 wickets.
Man of the Match:
MS Dhoni, for his match-winning 70 not out (34 balls, 1 four, 7 sixes)