Royal Challengers Bangalore(RCB) registered a 13-run win over Chennai Super Kings(CSK) in the 49th match of the Indian Premier League(IPL) on Wednesday, May 4 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune. CSK had defeated RCB in the first clash by 23 runs and it was their first win of the season.
RCB defeats CSK by 13 runs
CSK captain MS Dhoni had won the toss and opted to bowl against RCB. After being invited to bat RCB had made a strong start to their innings. The opening pair of Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis added 62 runs for the first wicket after the end of Powerplay but Moeen Ali gave the side an opening breakthrough as he removed Faf du Plessis on 37.
Maxwell (3) soon departed before Kohli (30) was wiped out by a delivery turning into him by Moeen. A quickfire from Lomror (42) and Patidar (21) then stabilized the innings. It was the star middle-order batter Dinesh Karthik (26*) who played a brilliant cameo, smashed 16 runs in the final over to steer RCB to a competitive score of 173/8 in 20 overs. Maheesh Theekshana took three wickets in the 19th over, while Moeen Ali helped CSK make early inroads during the middle overs.
Chasing a target of 174, Chennai Super Kings went three wickets down early. Devon Conway smashed a fifty and kept CSK alive in the chase. Openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Conway had given CSK a flying start, adding 51 runs in the powerplay. However, Glenn Maxwell struck twice in as many overs to put the breaks on CSK’s chase. Devon Conway top-scored for CSK with a fine 56 runs while Moeen Ali also played a quickfire knock of 34. At the end Chennai Super Kings fell short of 13 runs as their hopes for play-off qualification shattered. With the emphatic win, RCB made their return to top 4.
