Chennai Super Kings got back to winning ways, after the defeat against Rajasthan Royals, to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in a tense finish in Match 24 of TATA IPL 2023 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Attacking fifties from Devon Conway (83 off 45) and Shivam Dube (52 off 27) powered CSK to 226/6. The CSK bowlers then held their nerve and survived Glenn Maxwell (76 off 36) and Faf Du Plessis (62 off 33) blitzes to win the game by 8 runs in yet another thriller.
Chasing 227, RCB copped a huge early blow as they lost Virat Kohli who dragged one onto the stumps, off Impact Player Akash Singh. He looked to swing one to the leg side but got an inside edge onto the pads and the ball then trickled onto the stumps. Akash could have had two wickets in the over but Maheesh Theekshana cropped Mahipal Lomror at mid off. Lomror though couldn’t make the most of the lifeline as he departed in the next over, miscuing one off Tushar Deshpande to backward point, without adding any runs to his tally.
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RCB though went on the counter-attack despite the loss of two wickets as Glen Maxwell got into the groove early by smacking two sixes off Akash Singh in the third over and Faf du Plessis too got going with three fours and three sixes as they amassed 47 from three overs and reach 75/2 at the end of Powerplay.
Jadeja brought some calm for CSK with just six runs in his first over. Maxwell though sort of made it up in the next two overs cracking a four and two sixes to make it 24 off two overs. Du Plessis then brought up his fifty off 23 balls. Maxwell brought up his fifty, off 24 balls, in style with two fours in a row off Pathirana which was followed by a massive 94m six over deep square leg as RCB reached 121/2 at the end of 10 overs.
Theekshana had the chance to break the partnership in the next over but he dropped a tough caught and bowled chance of Du Plessis when on 52.
Theekshana made up for it as he had the big wicket of Maxwell in his next over. The Australian batter (76 off 36) went for a swipe across the line but got a top edge high in the sky and Dhoni pouched a very good catch.
Moeen Ali then provided another big moment as he bounced back hard to dismiss Faf du Plessis (62 off 33) after being hit for two sixes in the over. Dhoni accepted another skier calmly as the equation came down to 68 needed off 6 overs.
Dinesh Karthik then took over the mantle and thumped three fours and a six. In between there was drama as he was dropped by Gaikwad but two deliveries later Theekshana made sure he didn’t make any mistake as Deshpande sent back Karthik on 28(!4).
RCB sent Suyash Prabhudessai as their Impact Player, replacing Siraj.
With 35 needed off 18, Pathirana struck off the first ball of the 18th over, having Shahbaz (!2 off 10 balls) caught at long off. He bowled an excellent over, giving away just four runs to bring the equation to 31 off 12.
The pressure was mounting and Deshpande dismissed Parnell after bowling a WIDE off the first ball of the penultimate over. With 28 needed off 9 Prabhudessai smashed a six over deep mid-wicket and then scampered for a couple off the next. The last ball brought just a single as they took 12 off the over.
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With 19 required off the last over, Pathirana gave away just two singles off the first two balls but then Prabhudessai unleashed a reverse scoop over third man for a six to bring it down to 11 needed off three. Pathirana responded with an excellent yorker which was a dot. With 11 needed off 2, Pathirana bowled another excellent slower ball which Prabhudessai swiped one to long on for a couple and with 9 needed off the last ball, another slower one had Prabhudessai (19 off 11) caught at deep mid-wicket as CSK won by 8 runs.
Earlier, Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bowl. They went unchanged with their starting XI. They named Suyash Prabhudessai, David Willey, Akash deep, Karn Sharma and Anuj Rawat as their substitutes.
Chennai Super Kings made two changes to the starting eleven as Ambati Rayudu and Matheesha Pathirana replaced Akash Singh and Sisanda Magala. They named Akash Singh, Dwayne Pretorius, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed and Rajvardhan Hangargekar as their substitutes.
The in-form Mohd. Siraj started off well for RCB and got the wicket of Ruturaj Gaikwad early. He bowled a tight first over and gave away just three which included beating the inside edge of Devon Conway. Conway then got going with a four and a six off Wayne Parnell. Siraj, who was bowling with good rhythm, then had Gaikwad (3 off 6 balls) caught at fine leg in his next over to jolt CSK early. Parnell came back to bowl a decent over and give away just six.
Conway and Rahane took the attack to Vijaykumar Vyshak in the next over, hitting him for a four and a six with Rahane smacking that six on the roof as they accumulated 13 runs from the over. Rahane, who was looking to take the aggressive right from the start, went after Parnell in the next over, hammering two fours and a six to make it 15 off the over as CSK reached 53/1 at the end of the Powerplay.
Faf du Plessis introduced spin into the attack with Maxwell coming on after the Powerplay. Conway made it into a good over, smacking a six down the ground and taking 9 runs off it.
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The boundary flow continued as Rahane and Conway brought up the 50-run stand. Hasaranga finally broke the 74-run stand by cleaning up Rahane (37 off 20) with a brilliant googly.
Conway then brought up his fifty, off 32 balls, his fifth in the IPL as CSK reached 97/2 at the halfway mark. The CSK opener got together with Shivam Dube and went berserk to hit 68 off the next five overs including six sixes and four fours. The duo brought up the fifty-run stand off just 26 balls and continued to deal mainly in sixes.
Harshal Patel finally broke the 80-run stand (off 37 balls) as he cleaned up Conway (83 off 45) with a brilliant slower-ball yorker. Dube cracked another six, off Parnell to bring up his fifty off just 25 balls. Parnell though bounced back two balls later to have Dube (52 off 27) caught smartly in the deep by Siraj.
Moeen Ali and Ambati Rayudu continued the momentum, smashing a quick-fire 20 off 7 balls before Rayudu (14 off 6) departed, top-edging a slower delivery to the keeper, off Vyshak. Moeen Ali (19* off 9 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (10 off 8 balls) provided the final flourish to propel CSK to 226/6. CSK aced all three phases of the innings but they were particularly brilliant in the middle overs (7-15), smashing 112/1.
CSK introduced Akash Singh as their Impact Player, replacing Ambati Rayudu at the start of the second innings.
