IPL24 : RCB outplay CSK by 27 runs to storm into the playoffs with 6th consecutive win

 

Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Chennai Super Kings in the last match at home to reach the IPL playoffs.  Virat Kohli's team did the impossible by winning six consecutive matches.  Bengaluru batted first and scored 218 runs in the rain-hit match.  Kohli scored 47 runs.  Captain Faf du Plessis scored a half century.  Bengaluru had to stop Chennai Super Kings within 200 runs to reach the playoffs.  The bowlers of RCB team showed that.  The win took Bengaluru to 14 points.  Even though Chennai have the same points, RCB are the first four in terms of net run rate.  Last time champion Mahendra Singh Dhoni had to leave the IPL after losing the last match.

 Chennai captain Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and decided to bowl first in the crucial match.  Bangalore's two openers, Kohli and Du Plessis, made a good start.  They opened their arms after the first over.  A six from Kohli hits the roof of Chinnaswamy.  Bangalore were 31 runs in 3 overs.  After that, the game was stopped due to rain.  Although it was closed for some time, the overs did not decrease.

After the resumption post rain , the spinners started getting help from the pitch.  Mahish Theekshana and Mitchell Santner in particular were spinning the ball.  Some balls were holding.  As a result, the run rate decreased in the next three overs of the power play.  After the power play, Kohli started opening his arms again.  Ravindra Jadeja bowled badly despite getting help from the spinner on the pitch.  His ball speed was high.  Kohli was playing big shots using that speed as the slog sweep was employed .  Kohli was slowly moving towards his fifty.  But he was dismissed by Santner after scoring 47 runs off 29 balls.  Darryl Mitchell took a good catch at long on.

 Duplessis scored a half century even though Kohli could not.  Jadeja played several big shots in one over.  He was unfortunately run out after 54 runs.  Rajat Patidar hit a straight shot.  Santner's hands hit the ball on the wicket.  Duplessis managed to get the bat into the crease but the bat was in the air.  The third umpire gave out after watching replays for some time.

Even though two openers were out, Bengaluru's run rate did not slow down.  Patidar was playing well against the spinners.  Cameron Green was targeting the pacers.  The two together were keeping the team's run rate at over 10 per over.  Patidar scored 41 runs off 23 balls.  In the end, Dinesh Karthik (14 from 6 balls) and Glenn Maxwell (16 from 5 balls) also scored quickly.

 In the end, Bangalore lost 5 wickets and scored 218 runs in 20 overs.  Green remained unbeaten with 38 runs off 17 balls.

 In response, Ruturaj got out on the first ball when he came to bat.  He returned for zero runs while playing in the fine leg region off Maxwell.  Darryl Mitchell also did not get going.  He got out for 4 runs.  Chennai's innings was managed by Rachin Ravindra and Ajinkya Rahane.  They were playing well.  Shots played according to the ball.  They were not in a hurry and  was keeping the high  asking rate under control.

 Lockie Ferguson brought Bangalore back into the match.  He dismissed Rahane for 33 runs in his first ball.  On the other hand, Swapnil Singh and Maxwell were not giving the Chennai batsmen a chance to play.  The pace of the run was slowing down.  There was no way but to hit the big shot.  That's what Rachin did.  He took 19 runs in one over of Maxwell.  This New Zealand batsman also scored a half century.

Although Rachin played well, another batsman, Shivam Dube, was unable to strike the ball with his usual venom.   He was wasting the balls.  He hit Maxwell's ball but Mohammad Siraj dropped that catch.  However, due to a misunderstanding with Shivam in that over, Rachin was run out after 61 runs.  Shivam got out in the next over.  He scored 7 runs off 15 balls.  Chennai lost 5 wickets for 119 runs.

 Jadeja and Santner tried to control the damage.  But Santner's shot was brilliantly caught one handed by Duplessis .  It was clear how desperate RCB were to win this match . They almost bullied their more illustrious opponents.  Dhoni came out to bat after Santner departed for 3 . Chennai had to score 63 runs off 24 balls to reach the playoffs.  Yash Dayal leaked 13 runs in one over.  50 runs were needed in the last three overs.  Bangalore were not at ease as Dhoni and Jadeja were at the crease and they were hittting boundaries .  Siraj gave 15 runs in the 18th over.

 Chennai had to score 35 runs in the last two overs.  Dhoni could not play big shots but Jadeja was hitting.  He kept Chennai's hopes alive once again.  Ferguson leaked 18 runs in that over.  17 runs were needed in the last over.  Dayal was bowling.  Dhoni hit a six on the first ball.  The ball went out of the stadium & was 110 meters long .  However, Dayal did not panic.  He dismissed Dhoni on the very next ball.  Dhoni scored 25 runs off 13 balls.  11 runs were needed off the last four balls.  Dayal did not let them do that.  By manipulating the speed of the ball, he caused trouble for the batsmen.  In the end, Chennai's innings ended on 191 runs.  Jadeja could not win the team even after being unbeaten on 42 runs.  Bengaluru entered the playoffs after winning by 27 runs and won their 6th consecutive game after losing 7 of the past 8 . Quite a sensational comeback  !!