Dwayne Bravo and Shardul Thakur helped CSK restrict RCB to a total of 156, which is certainly praiseworthy considering the fine performances by Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal.
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The first half of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 match between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) was one of all-around cricket. The men in red were the ones to bat and they started incredibly well thanks to opener Devdutt Padikkal and skipper Virat Kohli. The duo constructed a 111-run stand for the first wicket to put RCB in a brilliant position. It seemed like the men in red would reach a score of 180-plus but an unbelievable comeback from CSK saw them restricted to 156. In the last four overs, the men in yellow picked five wickets and conceded only 25 runs. Dwayne Bravo and Shardul Thakur bowled memorable spells and restricted Virat Kohli’s men to under 160.
The RCB skipper was back to his run-scoring best along with Padikkal. Kohli scored 53 runs in 41 deliveries. It was the 41st time that he reached the milestone in the competition’s history. He, however, was not the star of the show. It was his partner Padikkal. The youngster displayed maturity beyond his years as he scored 70 runs off just 50 deliveries. It was a disappointing display for the rest of the batters that came on for RCB.
AB de Villiers scored 12 runs and Glenn Maxwell made 11. There would have been a lot of hope on the two to make a positive impact on the game but the duo disappointed. Tim David, who was recently the third-highest run-scorer in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) was also disappointing as he could only manage to get a single run.
The CSK bowlers were smashed around the park for the better part of the innings but their comeback in the final five overs was a thing of beauty. RCB went from 140-2 to 156-6. Dwayne Bravo was undoubtedly the pick of the bowlers. The West Indian led the charge of the CSK comeback as he took three wickets in his four overs and conceded only 24 runs. Shardul Thakur displayed an exceptional performance as he picked a couple of wickets and conceded only 29 runs in his four overs. Pacer Deepak Chahar also picked a wicket for the men in yellow.
The surface looks like a batting one but it can be immensely helpful for the bowlers as well, as the first innings has shown. With the quality the two sides possess, the match can turn out to be an absolute classic encounter.
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