Left-arm pacer Yash Dayal starred with 2-42, including taking out MS Dhoni in a seven-run final over, as Royal Challengers Bengaluru held their nerve to enter the playoffs of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 with a stunning 27-run win over defending champions Chennai Super Kings in front of their faithful fans at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
After captain Faf du Plessis (54), Virat Kohli (47), Rajat Patidar (41), and Cameron Green (38 not out) shone in a collective batting effort to post a challenging 218/5, RCB had CSK in trouble right from the start of the chase.
Though Rachin Ravindra made 61 and Ravindra Jadeja-MS Dhoni shared a 61-run partnership off 27 balls, it wasn’t enough as CSK were restricted to 191/7 to bow out of the competition, as RCB got their sixth consecutive win on the trot to grab the last remaining playoffs spot. They will now play the Eliminator on May 23 in Ahmedabad.
CSK were never in the hunt to chase down 219 from the word go. Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad fell for a golden duck after top-edging a short ball straight to short fine leg off Glenn Maxwell. Daryl Mitchell couldn’t do much, lasting just six balls before miscuing a loft to mid-off against Yash Dayal.
Rachin, with his cuts and pulls, along with Ajinkya Rahane steadied CSK’s ship after the early blows by hitting seven boundaries between themselves in a 66-run stand off 41 balls for the third wicket. But pressure built from RCB spinners meant Ajinkya Rahane looked to take on Lockie Ferguson’s first ball, but top-edged to wide mid-off to fall for 33 off 22 balls.
Rachin marched forward to get a 31-ball fifty, his first in the IPL, by heaving Ferguson over deep mid-wicket for six. Luck was going CSK’s way when Siraj dropped Shivam Dube’s catch at long-on. But in the same over, a massive mix-up resulted in Ravindra being run out for 61 off 37 balls.
Though Jadeja was dropped by Dinesh Karthik off Green, RCB continued to strike as Dube holed out to long-on off Ferguson, while Faf du Plessis took a leaping one-handed catch at mid-off to dismiss Mitchell Santner cheaply.
Jadeja and Dhoni hit nine stunning boundaries between themselves to valiantly take CSK past 200, but once the latter fell to Dayal in the final over, the match turned in RCB’s favour. CSK needed 10 runs to qualify off the last two balls, but Dayal got his redemption by not giving a single run to spark frenzy celebrations in the venue.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 218/5 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 54, Virat Kohli 47; Shardul Thakur 2-61, Mitchell Santner 1-23) beat Chennai Super Kings 191/7 in 20 overs (Rachin Ravindra 61, Ravindra Jadeja 42 not out; Yash Dayal 2-42, Cameron Green 1-18) by 27 runs
