Royal Challengers Bangalore pulled off a thrilling 1-run win over Chennai Super Kings as they manage to save themselves from elimination in the Indian Premier League 2019. The Virat Kohli-led side had set a target of 162 for CSK to chase. In reply, CSK captain MS Dhoni hammered an unbeaten 84 in 48 balls, but failed to take his side to a win.
Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni made a return and won the toss to elect to bowl against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The side made two changes, with Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo returning for Sam Billings and Karn Sharma. Meanwhile, RCB made two changes as well, with AB de Villiers and Umesh Yadav replacing Tim Southee and Mohammed Siraj.
Parthiv Patel’s attacking half-century and Moeen Ali’s final flourish wasn’t enough as Royal Challengers Bangalore put up a sub-par 161 for 7 against Chennai Super Kings in an IPL encounter on Sunday. Parthiv smashed 53 off 37 balls but didn’t get a lot of support from the other end until Moeen Ali used the long handle to hit 26 off 16 balls even as AB de Villiers (25 off 19 balls) and Akshdeep Nath (24 off 20 balls) delivered little after promising a lot. Deepak Chahar (2/25 in 4 overs) was impressive as usual while Ravindra Jadeja’s (2/29 in 4 overs) twin breakthrough during partnership was also important in the context of the innings.
Dwayne Bravo (2/34 in 4 overs) also chipped in with a couple of wickets in the end. Virat Kohli (9) hit a couple of boundaries before a thickish edge off a Chahar outswinger brought about his downfall. Mahendra Singh Dhoni took a nice catch behind the stumps.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the umpteenth time was in line to pull off another incredible chase but finally ran out of luck as Royal Challengers Bangalore managed to beat CSK by one run in another last-ball IPL thriller. Chasing a target of 162, CSK needed a near-impossible 26 off the last over bowled by Umesh Yadav and Dhoni with 84 off 48 balls that had seven sixes showed that nothing is indeed impossible until the Cricketing Gods intervened.
Only that Dhoni was at the crease and having consumed dot balls off the previous over, he had to go for the jugular and boy he did it with three sixes and a four. With two needed off the last ball and Umesh looking increasingly helpless, he managed to bowl a slower delivery and Dhomi missed it only for Parthiv Patel to effect a run-out as non-striker Shardul Thakur inches out of his crease.
The game-changing moment has to be the final ball! CSK skipper MS Dhoni went on a rampage in Umesh Yadav’s over. Needing 26 runs to win, he hammered a boundary and three sixes to make 24 runs in the first five balls. In the final ball, CSK needed two runs to win, and one to take the match to a super-over.
The pressure was on Umesh Yadav. The seamer delivered a slow delivery, outside off stump. Dhoni was deceived by the pace on the ball, missed it completely and the ball went straight to Parthiv Patel behind the stumps. Realising that they need to take a single to give themselves a chance of winning the super-over,
MS Dhoni: We did really well to restrict RCB to below par. I think it was more of a calculation mistake that we lost wickets early on. T20 is all about taking risks, but you can still calculate. I think it was still difficult at death if you bowl that back of the length. It was slightly spongy, it wasn’t coming on to the bat. A lot of boundaries were needed, right now you can calculate, one run there, and two runs there and we just lost by one run. But you can also say we missed some boundaries.
Virat Kohli: A whole lot of emotions. We thought we were outstanding with the ball till the 19th over mark. To be very honest, that was the last thing I would have expected. But anything can happen in the game of cricket. MS did what he does well and gave us a scare. The ball wasn’t coming on to the bat but the way PP and AB started, and then we lost AB and then a couple of wickets more, and we thought we were 15 short. Well looking at this game in hindsight, you can say he should have batted higher. Having one game left for him in the season, he might come up and enjoy himself. Saini understands his strengths and limitations and was outstanding. [On the last ball] If you don’t have confidence, nothing works. It was outstanding from Parthiv to think it could come down to a run-out as well.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/ipl/ipl-2019-rcb-vs-csk-report-results-5687317/