Dwayne Bravo delivered the goods with the ball with MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina ensuring a tidy finish to help CSK beat RCB by six wickets.
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Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are on an unfortunate run as they lost their seventh consecutive game in the UAE on Friday. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) recorded a comfortable victory over the men in red in an encounter of the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Friday. Things have not been going well for Virat Kohli’s men in the UAE leg of the competition so far. They have lost both games played so far and find themselves in a bit of a spot when it comes to the play-off stages. RCB scored 156 runs batting first and the men in yellow had no problem chasing it down. They scored 157-4 in 18.1 overs. It was the team’s veteran duo of skipper MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina that was in the middle in the end, as CSK won two matches in two.
The CSK batters displayed great maturity and patience as every single one that came out to the middle made a notable contribution. Openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis made a strong partnership for the first wicket. Gaikwad scored 38 runs off 26 deliveries and Du Plessis made 31 off 26. England cricketer Moeen Ali made 23 runs off 18 deliveries while Ambati Rayudu scored 32 runs from 22 deliveries. MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina were the final two in the middle for CSK as the left-hander hit the winning runs. Raina scored 17 off 10 while the skipper made 11 runs off nine balls.
It was a dismal day for the RCB bowlers who were, quite simply, outplayed by the CSK batting unit. Harshal Patel did a good job as he picked a couple of wickets to keep a stronghold at the top of the leading wicket-takers list. Yuzvendra Chahal and Glenn Maxwell picked one wicket each.
Along with Padikkal, the RCB captain was back to his run-scoring best. Kohli scored 53 runs in 41 balls. It was the 41st time in the competition’s history that he reached the milestone. He, however, was not the show’s main attraction. It was his colleague Padikkal. The youngster demonstrated maturity beyond his years by scoring 70 runs off just 50 deliveries. For the rest of the batters who came on for RCB, it was a disappointing performance.
Glenn Maxwell made 11 runs and AB de Villiers made 12. There would have been a lot of expectation for the two to have a positive impact on the game, but they fell short. Tim David, who was recently the third-highest run-scorer in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), was also underwhelming, scoring only one run.
The CSK bowlers were smashed around the park for most of the innings, but their comeback in the final five overs was breathtaking. RCB crumbled from 140-2 to 156-6. Dwayne Bravo was unquestionably the best of the bowlers. The West Indian spearheaded the CSK comeback, taking three wickets in four overs and conceding only 24 runs. Shardul Thakur delivered an outstanding performance, picking up two wickets and conceding only 29 runs in four overs. Deepak Chahar also took a wicket for the men in yellow.
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