Spinners And Dhoni Crushed RCB In A Low-scoring Contest

It was yet another disappointing performance by Royal Challengers Bangalore as they lost to Chennai Super Kings by 6-wickets at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Saturday (May 5). It was a complete dominating display of spin bowling by Ravindra Jadeja and Harbhajan Singh, who shared five wickets with each other and restricted RCB on a modest total of 127 after 20 overs.

However, CSK needed to be careful in chasing 128 as the pitch offered some help for spinners. Mahendra Singh Dhoni kept his head and guided CSK home comfortably in the end, despite Umesh Yadav's brilliant spell of fast bowling. Dhoni remained unbeaten on 31 off 23 balls.



Where RCB went wrong, didn't they start well?

They did, in fact, they got to flying start despite losing McCullum in second over. They scored 47 in the powerplay. Parthiv Patel, who was playing his first game in this IPL, was the aggressor in the first six overs. But then Dhoni introduced Jadeja on the bowling attack and he provided the big breakthrough to CSK by getting Virat Kohli on the very first ball of 7th over. Kohli could only manage to get 8 off 11 balls.

Kohli's wicket brought de Villiers on crease who missed out RCB's previous two games. But he couldn't make his mark and got stumped out in trying to play reverse sweep to Harbhajan Singh. They kept losing a wicket in middle overs and after 14 overs they reduced to 87 for 6. However, Tim Southee's 36* off 26 helped RCB to put 127 after 20 overs.



How good were Jadeja and Harbhajan for CSK?

Outstanding, it was Jadeja who got introduced ahead of Harbhajan and got Virat Kohli on the first ball of his spell. Then Harbhajan removed dangerous AB de Villiers in next over and left RCB in awful condition. Before RCB could recover from those big wickets, Jadeja removed Mandeep Singh and Parthiv Patel in two successive overs. Parthiv made 53 off 41 balls and remained top scorer in this match.

Ravindra Jadeja and Harbhajan Singh conceded 40 runs in their 8 overs and destroyed RCB's batting by picking 5 wickets.



Did CSK began well in run chase?

Not quite but yes, they did. However, CSK loses Shane Watson (11 off 14) on the last ball of the 3rd over. But Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu played well and put on a 44-run stand for the second wicket before Raina became another victim od, Umesh Yadav. He made 25 off 21 balls with 2 fours and a six.

How cool MSD was?

RCB tried to come back in the game by picking Rayudu and Dhruv Shorey in successive overs. But wicket of Rayudu brought Dhoni on the crease. He kept his head and took his time to get going but once he did, he finished the game by hitting 3 sixes to Yuzvendra Chahal in 18th over. He put on an unbeaten 48 off 34 balls with DJ Bravo and seal the deal for CSK.

Ravindra Jadeja awarded Man Of The Match for his match-winning spell while Umesh Yadav received Purple Cap (Leading wicket taker).

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