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. 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 RCB to put the Super Kings well on top as the defending champions started the title-defense in style. Kohli and Parthiv Patel started the match on a cautious note on a slow pitch where the shot-making was looking a bit difficult.
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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 offered an easy catch back to the spinner to leave that Challengers reeling at 28 for 2.
Two wickets in an over
All eyes were then on AB de Villiers but he too did not last long. He was also dismissed while going for a big shot. The IPL debutant Shimron Hetmyer was then 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, they were bundled out for a meager score of 70 despite some resistance from Parthiv Patel.
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During the chase of the meager score of 71, CSK lost their opener, Shane Watson early in the innings. But then Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu made some partnership for the second and the hosts chased down the total with 14 balls to spare.
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
