RCB got off to a brisk start with the bat as skipper Faf du Plessis found a number of boundaries with ease. He raced away to 35 off 23, but could not carry on and fell to Mustafizur Rahman (4/29), miscuing an attempted big hit to deep backward point. Rajat Patidar’s poor run continued as he was caught behind for a duck in the same over.
Deepak Chahar, who was expensive at the start, hit back with the big wicket of Glenn Maxwell for a golden duck. The RCB batter was caught behind trying to run a ball down to third man. Virat Kohli also could not convert his start. He fell for 21 off 20 balls, miscuing a pull off Mustafizur to deep midwicket. The left-arm pacer then knocked over Cameron Green (18 off 22) as the batter made room and missed an accurate delivery on the stumps. Anuj Rawat (48 off 25) and veteran keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik (38 off 26) added 95 runs for the sixth wicket to take Bangalore past 170.
In the chase, CSK got off to a brisk start as their openers added 38 in four overs. Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, however, fell for a run-a-ball 15. He was caught at slip off Yash Dayal [Impact Player], driving on the up. Rachin Ravindra (37 off 15) made a terrific IPL debut, slamming three fours and three sixes. However, he played one shot too many and slog-swept Karn Sharma straight to the fielder at deep backward square leg.
Ajinkya Rahane made 27 off 19 but checked a pull off Green and was brilliantly caught by Maxwell, diving at deep backward square leg. Daryl Mitchell chipped in with 22 off 18 balls. He too fell to Green miscuing a pull. However, Shivam Dube (34 not out off 28) coming in as the Impact Player, added an unbroken 66 with Ravindra Jadeja (25 not out off 17) as Chennai got past the finish line with eight balls to spare.
--By A Cricket Correspondent
