Kohli leads RCB’s rout of CSK
Dubai, UAE - Virat Kohli made a superbly paced unbeaten 90 off 52 balls, and Washington Sundar continued to bowl unhittable lengths in the powerplay, as the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) brushed aside their old rivals the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Dubai on Saturday.
After choosing to bat on a two-paced pitch, the Royals Challengers quietly saw off the early swing and moved to 103 for four in 14 overs. Having set the platform himself, Kohli launched from there, claiming 46 of the 66 runs they amassed in the last six overs, finishing with 169 for four.
Sundar then removed both the in-form Super Kings openers Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson, limiting them to 26 for two - their lowest powerplay score this season.
By the time MS Dhoni came out to bat at No 5 in the 15th over, the asking rate was hovering around 15. A fit-again Chris Morris and Isuru Udana eventually closed out the game, helping the Royal Challengers climb to fourth on the points table.
After swinging three balls past the outside edge of Aaron Finch in his first over, Deepak Chahar knocked over the opener's middle stump with an inswinger. Both Devdutt Padikkal, the other opener, and Kohli then simply played themselves in, pushing the Royal Challengers to 65 for one in ten overs. However, in the next over, Padikkal (33 off 34 balls) tried to manufacture a boundary off Shardul Thakur, but he mis-hit to mid-off. Three balls later, Thakur bowled another cross-seamer, this time having AB de Villiers nicking behind. RCB promoted Sundar to No 5 to potentially counter leg-spinner Karn Sharma and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja.
Sundar sized up a full legbreak from Sharma and slogswept him over long-on for six, but when he tried to take on Sam Curran, he also nicked off.
Kohli brought up his half-century, off his 39th ball, when he fiercely pulled Thakur to the fineleg fence. He then cracked three sixes and a four in the final three overs, taking apart Curran, Thakur, and Bravo.
Curran was so rattled that he floated two off-side wides in the 18th over while Thakur bowled a beamer in the 19th. Then, in the final over against Bravo, Kohli shuffled across, picked an attempted Bravo yorker from the tramline and scooped it away through the vacant spaces at fine leg for four despite falling. Kohli then couldn't put Bravo's variations away, but still went 2,2,2,2,1 to give the RCB a strong finish.
The Super Kings were chasing for the seventh time this season, and it was the same-old story.
After miscuing Sundar twice over the infield, du Plessis dragged the off-spinner to Morris at the leg-side boundary. When Sundar strayed down the leg side Watson slog-swept him off for four, but when he tried to repeat the dose off the next ball, he was bowled by a quick slider.
Ambati Rayudu could neither find the boundary or the gaps, struggling to 42 off 40 balls, with just four fours. CSK’s new No 4 N Jagadeesan also hit four fours and was the more fluent of the two in a 64-run partnership for the fourth wicket but it took 52 balls. The stand ended when Jagadeesan was run out by Morris for 33. Dhoni cleared the ropes once before Yuzvendra Chahal dangled a slow leg-break away from his reach and had him slicing a catch to long-off. Game over for the Super Kings.