During the 35th match of the 11th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Pune, Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 6 wickets.
After MS Dhoni won the toss and put the visitors into bat, Royal Challengers lost wickets from the word go. After losing Brendon McCullum in the second over, Bangalore recovered in the powerplay, scoring 47-1. However, just after the powerplay finished, wickets started to tumble. A couple of overs post the halfway mark saw them losing four wickets for five runs. Eventually, they ended up scoring 127-9 in 20 overs.
In the second innings, Chennai Super Kings lost Shane Watson in the third over. The target was so meagre that losing a wicket or two in the chase wouldn’t have put any additional pressure on them. MS Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo sealed the chase in the 18th over without much discomfort.
Now, we will look at the hits and flops players in this match.
Hits
Parthiv Patel (RCB) – Playing his first match of the season, Parthiv Patel grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Opening the batting with Brendon McCullum, he scored his 11th IPL half-century, 53 (41), with the help of five fours and two sixes on a wicket where none of the other specialist batsmen in the team crossed double digits.
Ravindra Jadeja (CSK) – It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Ravindra Jadeja was at his best today with the ball in hand in this season of the IPL. From dismissing Virat Kohli (8) on the first ball that he bowled to getting rid of Mandeep Singh (7) and Parthiv Patel (53), Jadeja was at the top of his game. Adjourned as the ‘Man of the Match’, he registered bowling figures of 4-0-18-3.
Harbhajan Singh (CSK) – Ravindra Jadeja and Harbhajan Singh proved the old saying of spinners hunting in pairs true today as operating simultaneously, the duo did not give many chances to the opposition batsmen. Harbhajan Singh returned with figures of 4-0-22-2 which included wicket of AB de Villiers.
Flops
Brendon McCullum (RCB) – Opening the batting with Parthiv Patel, Brendon McCullum literally gave his wicket away by playing a needless shot in the second over. He ended up scoring 5 (3) with the help of one four.
Virat Kohli (RCB) – Coming in to bat at No. 3 in the second over, Virat Kohli went through a quite powerplay on a personal front. Facing the first ball after the powerplay, he failed to read an arm ball by Ravindra Jadeja which ended up hitting his stumps. He scored 8 (11).
Mandeep Singh (RCB) – For someone who has impressed in the tournament, today was a perfect opportunity to play a defining innings. Coming in to bat at No. 5 in the eight over, Mandeep Singh had time on his side to play a promising innings and also put his team out of trouble. However, he scored 7 (13).
