Picture : Twitter/ IPL
Royal Challengers Bangalore came out with a solid all- round display to beat the defending Champions Chennai Super Kings by 13 runs at the MCA stadium in Pune in the 49th match of the Tata IPL 2022. The win took RCB to fourth in the points table and boosted their play- offs hopes. CSK on the other hand languish at the dismal ninth position.
CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and decided to bowl first . RCB for the first time got off to a bright start with Skipper Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli. The duo put on 62 for the first wicket in 7. 2 overs. Virat Kohli scored a rather uncharacteristic 33 ball 30 . Faf du Plessis scored ( 38) , Glenn Maxwell flopped with the bat out for ( 3) . Mahipal Lomror a 27 ball 42 ( 3 fours , 2 sixes) , Rajat Patidar ( 21) , Dinesh Karthik ( 26 ) off 17 balls 1 four , two sixes saw RCB reach a fighting 173/ 8 in their 20 overs.
For CSK the bowling figures were : Maheesh Theekshana 3/ 27 ( 4 overs) , Moeen Ali 2/ 28 ( 4 overs) , Dwaine Pretorius 1/ 42 ( 3 overs) , Ravindra Jadeja 0/ 20 ( 4 overs) , Simarjeet Singh 0/ 21 ( 2 overs) , Mukesh Choudhary 0/ 30 ( 3 overs)
In reply, CSK looked good with openers Ruturaj Gaikwad ( 28) 23 balls ( 3 fours, 1 six) and Devon Conway ( 56) 37 balls ( 6 fours and , 2 sixes) putting on 54 for the first wicket in 6. 4 overs. Soon after the opening duo were out the CSK batting flopped . Robin Uthappa ( 1) , Ambati Rayudu ( 10) were out in quick succession. Moeen Ali tried hard with his ( 34) before he holed out . Ravindra Jadeja ( 3) caught brilliantly by Virat Kohli , Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni ( 2) failed and CSK chase was all but over. CSK finishing at 160/ 8 in their 20 overs.
For RCB bowling figures were : Harshal Patel 3/ 35 ( 4 overs) , Glenn Maxwell 2/ 22 ( 4 overs), Shahbaz Ahmed 1/ 27 ( 3 overs), Josh Hazelwood 1/ 19 ( 4 overs) prized wicket of MSD, Mohammed Siraj 0/ 22 ( 2 overs) , Wanindu Hasaranga 1/ 31 ( 3 overs)
