RCB chokes CSK in Chennai, ends 17-year wait for victory in Chepauk

Having fought their way to a competitive 196/7, RCB applied the perfect squeeze on CSK with early strikes humbling them down to 146/8

Chennai: Skipper Rajat Patidar’s fortuitous fifty received excellent support from an unerring set of bowlers as Royal Challengers Bengaluru snapped a 17-year winless streak at Chepauk with a huge 50-run win over Chennai Super Kings here on Friday.

Having fought their way to a competitive 196/7, RCB applied the perfect squeeze on CSK with early strikes and the five-time winners crumbled without any resistance, making 146/8.

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CSK’s defeat to RCB in the “Southern Derby” in their own “Anbuden” (Den of Love) was their first since the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008.

The value of the victory could have gauged from the wide smile on the face of old warhorse Virat Kohli, the only one man in this RCB line-up who was part of that distant 2008 victory.

RCB’s win came courtesy a heady mix of orthodox game of giving it all with the bat and stifling the opposition with regular wickets.

But the Royal Challengers also had to thank CSK’s shocking lack of gumption as the home side never landed a punch in reply.

CSK never recovered from a poor start which saw them losing skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (0) among three wickets inside the first two overs.

The slide began in the second over when Rahul Tripathi (5) lobbed an easy catch to short midwicket off Josh Hazlewood (3/21) while attempting a pull.

Hazlewood dealt a body blow to CSK on the final ball when he had in-form Gaikwad caught at deep square leg for a four-ball duck, off a top edge which flew high in the air.

CSK slipped to 8/3 soon when Deepak Hooda edged one behind off Bhuvneshwar Kumar while looking to guide the ball to third man, which left the five-time champions in deep trouble.

Rachin Ravindra (41, 31 balls) and Sam Curran (8) did well to arrest the slump but in bargain they could not whittle down the asking rate, which swelled to 13 runs an over.

In the ninth over, Curran went after Liam Livingstone (4-0-28-2) but was caught at long on by Krunal Pandya and it was evident at this point that CSK were staring at a heavy loss.

The regular fall of wickets never really allowed Ravindra to take the aggressive route, and his resistance ended in the 13th over when he chopped Yash Dayal onto his stumps (2/18).

Dayal reaped further benefits of the mounting pressure when he had Shivam Dube (19) playing one onto the stumps.

CSK sent in R Ashwin here, and not MS Dhoni, which told CSK had given up the fight with 116 to get with seven overs in hand.

Dayal’s twin strikes in the 13th over harmed CSK as much as RCB’s Impact Sub Suyash Sharma’s fine spell, delivering a measly 4-0-32-0 to tie down the opposition batters.

Dhoni struck three fours and two sixes to make 30 not out off 16 balls to go past Suresh Raina as CSK’s highest run-scorer in IPL history, but that was only a minor consolation point.

Earlier, Patidar rode on his luck to make a vital 51 and along with Tim David (8-ball 22) lifted Royal Challengers Bengaluru to 196 for seven.

Patidar was dropped thrice by CSK fielders but he made most of the reprieves to score 51 off 32 balls (4x4s, 3x6s), providing his side a much-needed impetus in the middle-overs, while David’s late burst made up for a mid-phase slump.

Early fireworks form Phil Salt (32 off 16 balls, 5x4s, 1x6s) and Devdutt Padikkal (27 off 14 balls, 2x4s, 2x6s) had masked Virat Kohli’s (31, 30 balls) struggle but their dismissals left RCB in doldrums.