On Wednesday night, hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) suffered another defeat and this time they lost against in-form Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bengaluru).
CSK captain MS Dhoni chose to field first after winning the toss. With the major help of Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers, the hosts put 205/8 on the board at the end of 20 overs. However, the visiting team chased down remarkably in 19.4 overs after losing 5 wickets.
Now, we will briefly talk about some important reasons for RCB’s defeat in this match.
RCB late batting collapse
Every moment is very crucial in the T20 cricket and this match proved it once again. At one phase in the first innings, South African duo Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers were comfortably dominating on the visiting bowlers and RCB was looking like to make easily 210-215 plus total on the board as they had over 10 run-rates at the end of 13 overs and lost only one wicket.
But, soon they lost both set batsmen and then observed some batting collapses till the end. It provided some more wastage balls at that crucial stage. Though Mandeep Singh (32 off 17 balls) and Washington Sundar (13* off 4 balls) helped the team to cross 200-run mark, those shaky moments became one important reason for RCB’s defeat in this game.
Virat Kohli’s failure to choose right bowlers according to situations
RCB skipper Virat Kohli mostly failed to choose right-bowlers according to the situations. Specially in the last phase of the match, Kohli had not many experienced bowlers while he continuously went with Mohammed Siraj and Corey Anderson despite they were not looking much confident with the ball.
Umesh Yadav missed a vital catch of Ambati Rayudu
In the crucial moment of the game, RCB player Umesh Yadav missed a good chance to dismiss the set batsman Ambati Rayudu. It was the 15.3 overs when Rayudu was on 61 runs off 46 balls and CSK still needed 70 more runs for victory. After that catch dropped, Rayudu added crucial 21 runs in just 7 balls before Umesh successfully run-out him. However, that missed opportunity cost the hosts hugely at the end of the night.
Wide hat-trick by nervous Siraj
24-year-old right-arm pacer Mohammed Siraj was very nervous in the 19th over of the game. CSK needed 30 runs in last two overs while Siraj’s first four balls were very well as he conceded only three runs in total. But after Dhoni hit him for a six in the fifth ball, he got nervous and bowled three consecutive wide balls before giving two more runs in the final ball.
As a result, he conceded total 14 runs in that extended over and CSK needed 16 more runs for victory in the final over which was likely gettable for Dhoni-Bravo like batsmen. In the end, CSK succeeded to secure the victory with 2 balls to spare.
Ambati Rayudu and MS Dhoni
While the other top-order CSK batsmen failed to cross 20-run mark and CSK was struggling for 74/4 in 9 overs, opener Ambati Rayudu and no.6 leader MS Dhoni provided a brilliant 101-run partnership and made the game on for them.
Rayudu played a superb knock of 82 runs off 53 balls with 3 fours and 8 sixes while Player of the Match award winner Dhoni was unbeaten for 70 runs off 34 balls with only four and 7 sixes.
Rayudu brilliantly grew up that big innings while Dhoni successfully showed his typical finishing skills once again.
