Chennai: Chennai Super Kings won a last over thriller against Royal Challengers Bangalore by four wickets at Chepauk on Saturday. With just two runs required off the last ball, Ravindra Jadeja played the ball into the hands of third man but it was ruled a no-ball as RP Singh had over-stepped the line and it sealed the victory for CSK.
It was a see-saw battle that had all the thrills of an IPL entertainer. First it was Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers who performed with the bat and later MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja batted exceptionally well to make this a memorable affair for both the team and their fans.
Chasing a target of 164 was never going to be easy for Chennai. Chennai didn’t get the best of start as they lost Murli Vijay in the second over and Mike Hussey followed soon, reducing CSK to 2/10 in four overs. Suresh Raina and S Badrinath started picking up singles and doubles to reduce the pressure and got CSK back into the game. Within no time, they started dealing in boundaries and reciprocated to the pressure back really well. As the balance started tilting the CSK’s favour, they suffered two back-to-back setbacks as Syed Mohammed got Raina and Badrinath out and brought back RCB into the game.
MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja ensured that CSK will not let it go easily. They put up a great fight and added 59 runs but Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo’s in succession again titled the match in RCB’s favour. But Jadeja held his nerves in the last over and started off with the massive six off RP Singh. With just two runs needed off last ball, he put the ball straight into the hands of fielder, but it turned out to be no-ball. Jadeja and Dhoni scored 38 and 33 respectively to win this thrilling encounter for CSK.
Earlier, RCB had a poor start as they lost their star-batsman Chris Gayle in the second over of the innings. They managed to add just 35 runs in their first five overs. But Virat Kohli and Mayank Agarwal started taking on the bowlers and were able to find those much-needed boundaries. They added 45 run for the second wicket and got the score past fifty in the ninth over. After Agarwal lost his wicket to R Ashwin, Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers applied themselves really well to do repair work for RCB. Kohli scored 58 runs off 47 balls before getting out to Chris Morris.
RCB were 3/133 when Kohli left the field and Morris struck again to dismiss Daniel Christian. However De Villiers smacked Morris for 20 runs in his final over and with eight fours and one six, ended up scoring 64 runs off just 32 balls. He got out to Dirk Nannes in his final over. Morris was the pick of the bowlers as he ended up for 3/40 in his four overs. RCB ended up posting competitive total of 164 on the board for the loss of six wickets.
By ISN