In-form Chennai Super Kings (CSK) continued their impressive run in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as they secured a dominant 6-wicket triumph against an out of sorts Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Friday at Sharjah.
After restricting RCB from 111/0 to 156/6, CSK chased the target down with 11 balls to spare. return to the top of the points table. With this win, M.S. Dhoni's side reclaimed the top spot in the points table, with 14 points from nine games.
On that slowish Sharjah pitch, 157 was a decent total. However, the 71-run opening stand between Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis laid the platform in the Chennai's chase. Moeen Ali (23) and Ambati Rayudu (32) built on it before Dhoni (11*) and Suresh Raina (17*) reunited in the middle to provide the finishing touches.
Earlier, after being put into bat, Devdutt Padikkal (70) and Virat Kohli (53) injected early momentum in their innings after the game was delayed for 15 minutes due to a sandstrom. The pair dominated right from the start. Kohli, in particular, seemed to have regained his touch. They put up 100 on the board in the 12th over and looked on course for a score close to 200.
However, once the partnership was broken by Dwayne Bravo in the 13th over, the CSK bowlers bounced back to tame the RCB middle order on the small ground. Bravo (3-24) and Shardul Thakur (2-29) were particularly hard to put away, as RCB lost 6 for 45 in 6.4 overs.
With this defeat, RCB's winless run in the UAE has extended to 7 matches, dating back from IPL 2020. However, in this season they still maintain their third spot with 5 wins from 9 matches, 2 points more than 4th-placed KKR.
Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 156/6 in 20 overs (Padikkal 70; Bravo 3-24) lost to Chennai Super Kings 157/4 in 18.1 overs (Gaikwad 38; Harshal 2-25) by 6 wickets with 11 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Dwayne Bravo