Explosive Super Kings rule over the Royal Challengers

Match Result : Chennai Super Kings beats Royal Challengers Bangalore by 5 wickets

Final Scores : RCB – 205/8, CSK – 208/5

A late surge from Albie Morkel and Dwayne Bravo took the Chennai Super Kings past the Royal Challengers Bangalore in a match that saw a complete run fest. In a replay of last year’s IPL final – the Chennai Super Kings took on the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their own backyard on quite a hot day. Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to bat citing that the pitch would slow down later in the evening.

When has it last happened that Gayle has been out in the middle and has taken the backseat and is on single figures while his partner has scored more than 90% of the runs? Today was one such day – Mayank Agarwal replaced Pujara at the top and took the lead as RCB got off to a flyer, after he opened with Gayle. It was the first time in this season that a team reached 50 under 5 overs. Agarwal was dropped when he was on 16 by Bollinger and went after the CSK bowlers after that. His entertaining innings came to an end when he was caught at mid-on by Bravo off Morkel. After his exit, Gayle took over the and smashed Raina for 21 runs in an over that contained 3 sixes. Gayle brought up his 50 in style with back to back sixes of Jakati, off just 27 balls, which is the fastest of the tournament. His partnership with Kohli lasted for 109 runs off 65 balls.

Gayle was dismissed by Jadeja for 68 off just 35 balls. Kohli then took charge bringing up his 50 in 43 balls after having played second-fiddle while Gayle accelerated. RCB cruised to 190 in 18 overs, looking good to get the team to at least 220 after the last 2, but CSK fought back picking up 5 wickets in 7 balls! The last over from Doug Bollinger was – W W 1 W W 6! Bangalore finished at 205/8 in 20 overs which is their highest score against CSK and is the highest team total in the IPL-5.

RCB’s intent from the outset was indication of what was to come but the possibility of Chennai chasing it down couldn’t be ruled out at any point given their batting strength. Wily Vettori and Zaheer opened the bowling for RCB and made it tough for the CSK openers – Vijay and du Plessis with their subtle variations, but du Plessis didn’t take too long to get into his groove and CSK got off to good start. Murali took a stunner off his own bowling to dismiss Vijay providing the breakthrough for RCB. He soon struck again dismissing Raina and the man who was causing maximum damage – South African, Faf du Plessis for 71 off just 46 balls.

At that time 205 looked a long shot but it was the power hitting trio of Dhoni, Bravo and Morkel that finally sealed the match for Chennai as the Bangalore boys completely lost their plot in the last five overs. After Dhoni departed for smashing 41, it looked as if it was all over for Chennai. But Albie Morkel took Kohli to task as he hammered 28 runs in the penultimate over to put Chennai back on track. In a nail biting last over, the Super Kings needed 15 to win and the pair of Bravo and Jadeja remained unbeaten to guide them to a exhilarating victory. For the Royal Challengers, Muralitharan managed three scalps with the rest of the cast going for plenty.

There were 23 sixes in this game – the highest in any game ever in the history of the IPL.

Man of the Match : Faf du Plessis