The Chennai Super Kings climbed back to pole position in the Pepsi IPL 2015 standings – and maintained their unbeaten record at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai - after they defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by 24 runs on Monday. After batting first and setting the visitors a target of 149, CSK clawed their way back into the match after the visitors called the shots at one point and looked favourites to walk away with the two points. RCB who were in control of the run chase at one point, collapsed to bowled out for 124.

At the start of the run-chase, RCB lost opener Nic Maddinson (who made it to the RCB XI in place of the rested Chris Gayle) in the third over.
 AB de Villiers started off with a bang, hitting two boundaries in the first four balls he faced. The South African struck three more boundaries and raced to 21 from 13 balls before his attempt to drive a low full toss landed in the hands of Faf du Plessis at mid off. From 34 for 2, RCB slipped to 34 for 3 two balls later when Mandeep Singh answered his captain’s call for a risky single but was run out by a sharp throw by Pawan Negi.

The rescue job came from Kohli and Dinesh Karthik, who added 63 runs in just under nine overs. Run scoring was a difficult proposition on the pitch by itself, and it was made to appear like a herculean effort by the Chennai Super Kings fielders who must have saved at least 15-20 runs on the field. The pair operated on the one-boundary-an-over strategy, but ran hard between the wickets, often picking up the difficult second run.

Just when it appeared that the balance was tilting slightly in favour of the visitors, Dwayne Bravo came up with a piece of magic for the hosts. After Kohli had stepped out and driven straight back, Bravo fielded it in his follow through, had the presence of mind to fling the ball back at the striker’s end wickets catching the RCB captain out of his ground. Kohli made 48 from 44 balls, aided with two boundaries and a six.

Karthik’s dismissal the following delivery – when he picked Dwayne Smith at the squareleg boundary, meant the wheels had come off the chase. CSK tightened the screws once they had packed off the two set batsmen; RCB, who needed a manageable 52 runs from 37 balls before Kohli was dismissed, could only added a further 27 runs before being bowled out for 124, with two balls remaining to be bowled in the innings.

For CSK, Ashish Nehra took his tally of wickets – together with the three wickets in this match – to 17 wickets. Ishwar Pandey and Bravo picked up two wickets each. In all, the four quick bowlers bowled 15.4 overs and returned with eight wickets.

Earlier in the evening, after opting to bat first, Chennai Super Kings batsmen struggled to come to terms with a difficult surface. Their task was made that much more difficult by disciplined bowling by the visitors. The first over of the innings turned out to be a wicket maiden; Dwayne Smith failed put bat to ball for the first five deliveries, after which Mitchell Starc landed the perfect yorker that uprooted the stumps behind the opening batsman.

Brendon McCullum played a few strokes and raced to 20 runs before he was second man out, holing out to midwicket. Suresh Raina, who would finish innings top-scorer, and Faf du Plessis resurrected the innings with a 64-run partnership – the highest of the innings. Both batsmen picked up plenty of singles and twos early on and kept the scoreboard ticking; Raina cut loose in the ninth over when he hit the Iqbal Abdulla for a six and two boundaries.

The partnership, which took the score to 98 for 2, was separated when du Plessis dragged a Harshal Patel delivery onto his stumps. The RCB pacer would strike a body blow to CSK when he dismissed Raina lbw. The CSK left-hander, who hit five boundaries and a six in his 46-ball outing, made 52 runs before he played down the wrong line to a delivery that was bowled from round the stumps and further jagged back in.

From 101 for 4, the rest of the CSK middle order couldn’t force the pace too much in the final five overs. MS Dhoni contributed a quick-fire 29, which were studded with two fours and two sixes, and Pawan Negi (13) impressed hitting one six and a boundary in seven deliveries. CSK finished their allotted twenty overs at 148 for 9.

For RCB, the three frontline bowlers were outstanding; while Starc returned the best bowler with three wickets – two of which he picked up in the final over, while David Wiese and Harshal picked up two wickets apiece. The lanky Harshal conceded only one boundary, and bowled his four overs conceding only 19 runs. The two spinners – Yuzvendra Chahal and Iqbal Abdulla – gave away 70 runs in their seven overs.

Brief Scores

Chennai Super Kings 148-9 in 20.0 Overs (Suresh Raina 52, Mitchell Starc 3-24) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 124 in 20.0 Overs (Virat Kohli 48, Ashish Nehra 3-19)

Man of the Match : Suresh Raina for his match winning knock 52 of 46 balls.