MS Dhoni finishes-off in style, leads CSK from the front to register an emphatic victory over RCB
Bengaluru, April 26: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) registered an emphatic victory against Royal Challengers Banglore (RCB) as MS Dhoni produced one of his special knocks to help his team chase down a stiff target of 206 on Wednesday. Dhoni’s unbeaten 70, and an equally important 82 by Ambati Rayudu, CSK got past the finish line with two balls to spare. Notably, the 5-wicket win took CSK to the top of the VIVO IPL 2018 standings and left RCB with two wins from six matches.
Chasing the massive target of 206, 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.
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)