The RCB skipper, Virat Kohli, and his men grabbed a lot of eyeballs on Saturday for all the wrong reasons during the tournament opener of the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for a poor batting display. The Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen were all over the place in the match as after the CSK skipper MS Dhoni invited the visitors to bat first on a slow track and veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh proved his decision spot on.
Bhajji ran through the top-order of the visitors to put the Super Kings well on top as the defending champions started the title-defense with a bang. Kohli (6) and Parthiv Patel (28) started the match on a cautious note on a slow pitch where the shot-making was looking a bit difficult.
ALSO READ: Twitterati Badly Trolls RCB For A Poor Start
However, the two could add only 16 runs before the RCB skipper decided to go over the top. He sat down and played a slog sweep but hit the shot straight to Ravindra Jadeja at deep mid-wicket. Kohli only managed to score just 6 off 12 deliveries. In the very next over of Harbhajan, the England opener, Moeen Ali (9) offered an easy catch back to the spinner to leave that Challengers reeling at 28 for 2.
All eyes were then on AB de Villiers (9) but he too did not last long, but he was also dismissed while going for a big shot. The IPL debutant Shimron Hetmyer (0) got involved in a suicidal run out in the same over, which turned the game in the favor of the hosts as RCB found themselves 39 for 4. Eventually, RCB bundled out for a meager score of 70 despite some resistance from Parthiv Patel.
ALSO READ: (CSK vs RCB) – Turning Point of the Match
During the chase of the meager score of 71, CSK lost their opener, Shane Watson, early in the innings for a duck as Yuzvednra Chahal cleaned his off stump. But then Suresh Raina (19) and Ambati Rayudu (28) added 32 runs for the second wicket before Raina being dismissed in the 10th over by Moeen, but the hosts chased down the total with 14 balls to spare as Ravindra Jadeja (6) and Kedar Jadhav (13) took the hosts over the line. Raina became the first batsman for score 5000 runs in the history of the tournament.
Brief Score:
Royal Challengers Bangalore – 70 all-out ( P Patel: 29; H Singh: 3/20, I Tahir 3/9) defeated by Chennai Super Kings – 71/3 in 17.4 overs (A Rayudu: 28, S Raina: 19; Y Chahal: 1/6) by 7 wickets
Here is how Twitterati reacted after CSK one-sided win:
Getting to be a rout. Bhajji and Tahir creating havoc. Unable to see any method in RCB’s batting
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) March 23, 2019
Can RCB bat for 20 overs? Unlikely.
— Vimal कुमार (@Vimalwa) March 23, 2019
RCB, oh RCB. Never change.
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) March 23, 2019
Usually it takes a week or two before you start feeling sorry for RCB fans. For #IPL2019 pity party has begun at first hour of the first day. #CSKvRCB
— cricBC (@cricBC) March 23, 2019
👉PSL 2019 Prize Money ~ Rs 7 Crore
👉IPL 2019 Opening Ceremony =Rs 20 Crore (donated to Defence Forces)BAAP BAAP Hota Hai 😂🤣 #CSKvRCB #IPL2019
— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) March 23, 2019
Prediction gone wrong dis time but I still hav hopes on @rcb goin forward in d tournament. At least my X factors from Rcb were playing in d 11 which I predicted 😉 It’s a long tournament nd I’m sure they r gonna bounce back 👍
— MANOJ TIWARY (@tiwarymanoj) March 23, 2019
Couple of months ago I wouldn't have dreamt of this @harbhajan_singh
you are an absolute legend my friend #CSKvRCB— Deep Dasgupta (@DeepDasgupta7) March 23, 2019
Bowler friendly pitches are nice….but it’s a little too lopsided in spinners’ favour. And #RCB have only two spinning options. #CSKvRCB #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) March 23, 2019
#RCB paying the price for their Batsmen failing to assess the conditions in #Chepauk tonight , 130+ would have been hard work for any side #CSKvsRCB #IPL #IPL2019 #BadriBytes
— S.Badrinath (@s_badrinath) March 23, 2019
ROFL and How. I’m sure Dhoni took the DRS for LBW….but turned out to an inside edge. And caught. Unbelievable. Dhoni Review System rocks. #CSKvRCB #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) March 23, 2019
28/2 after 5.2 . This is where you rethink the target you wanna set . 150 might be enough on this pitch !!
— Rohan Gavaskar (@rohangava9) March 23, 2019
Most wins against an opposition in IPL:
18 – MI v KKR
15 – CSK v RCB*
15 – KKR v KXIP
14 – MI v RCB#CSKvRCB— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) March 23, 2019
