May 24, 2014
Brief Scorecard: Chennai Super Kings 160 for 2 (du Plessis 54*, Dhoni 49*) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 154 for 6 (Kohli 73, Nehra 3-33) by eight wickets
May 24, 2014
Brief Scorecard: Chennai Super Kings 160 for 2 (du Plessis 54*, Dhoni 49*) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 154 for 6 (Kohli 73, Nehra 3-33) by eight wickets
CSK skipper MS Dhoni plundered an unbeaten 49 off 28 balls, including 3 massive sixes, as CSK cantered to an eight wicket win against RCB during their IPL cricket match, at Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengalore, on Saturday.
Kohli piled up 73, leading RCB to 154/6; veteran left arm seamer Ashish Nehra impressed with figures of three for 33
Bengalore, Karnataka: Chennai Super Kings cruised to a comfortable eight-wicket victory over a lacklustre Royal Challengers Bangalore to strengthen their second place in the seventh edition of the IPL, here on Saturday.
Chasing a modest target of 154 set by RCB largely due to Virat Kohli’s 49-ball 73, the CSK batsmen made minimum fuss as a collective effort saw them cross the line with as many as 14 balls to spare.
CSK thus finished their league engagements with 18 points from 14 games by virtue of nine victories. Their net run rate is +0.385 which they would hope that KKR does not surpass during their evening match against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
CSK batsman Faf Du Plessis scored an unbeaten 54, during the IPL cricket match against RCB, at Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengalore on Saturday.
Faf du Plessis reveled in the role of an opener scoring an unbeaten 54 and also enjoying couple of fruitful partnerships of 57 for the opening stand with Dwayne Smith (34) and an unbroken 75 runs with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the third wicket.
Dhoni smacked his way to 49 off only 28 balls to ensure that the run rate is suitably beefed up. Dhoni’s innings had four boundaries and three sixes while Du Plessis hit three fours and three sixes.
He was severe on the left-arm spinners as two of his three sixes came in one Yuvraj Singh over and the other was hit off Shadab Jakati.
The winning hit came off Du Plessis’ bat as he lofted Jakati for a big six to end it in style. Dwayne Smith again gave CSK a good start as he smashed his way to 34 off 17 balls with four boundaries and a six. CSK had pocketed the match by the end of the Powerplay as 64 runs came off six overs.
Left-arm spinner Jakati, who had enjoyed a bit of success for the CSK, had a horrible outing giving away 41 runs in his listless 3.4 overs. Mitchell Starc was also hammered for 33 runs in three overs.
RCB skipper Virat Kohli's fine innings of 73 ended when he was bowled by CSK left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra during their IPL cricket match at Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengalore on Saturday.
Earlier, Virat Kohli stood tall among his struggling teammates with a stroke filled half-century as Royal Challengers Bangalore managed a below-par 154 for six against Chennai Super Kings in the final group league encounter of the two teams in the seventh edition of IPL.
Kohli struck 73 off 49 balls with two fours and five sixes as some of the other batsmen failed to get going against a disciplined CSK attack.
Veteran left arm seamer Ashish Nehra impressed one and all with figures of three for 33 including two beautiful deliveries to dismiss Rilee Russouw (1) and AB de Villiers (10). He got the South Africa’s limited overs captain with a perfect yorker that pegged the middle stump back.
Save Kohli, none of other batsmen could find their feet and he fought a lone battle against CSK. Out of his five sixes, four were hit over the deep mid—wicket region while the other was hit in the long—off region. Kohli was finally out when Nehra bowled a well disguised slower delivery, in his final over, that rolled into the stumps. Nehra's performance justified Dhoni’s decision to field him after a gap of 12 matches.
Kohli had a 55—run partnership for fourth wicket with Yuvraj and scripted a 42—run partnership for fifth wicket with De Villiers, before the mercurial South African was castled by Nehra.
With three down for 33 in the sixth over, Yuvraj and Kohli put their heads down to build the innings. In the tenth over, Kohli cut lose and plundered 10 runs along with Yuvraj , which also included a six off Ashwin over long—on.
In the next 18 deliveries, Yuvraj and Kohli cracked 27 runs with a flurry of boundaries against Suresh Raina and Ashwin.
However, Yuvraj was out to a woeful shot off left arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja for 25 off 24 balls with two boundaries, leaving Bangalore struggling at 88 for four in 14 overs.
Earlier, Chennai Super Kings decided to field after winning the toss against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 14th and final IPL group league encounter here.
Veteran seamer Ashish Nehra, who was dropped after the first game came back into the side along with leggie Samuel Badree. The ones dropped are John Hastings and Pawan Negi.
RCB made wholesale changes with Chris Gayle, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ashoke Dinda and Abu Nechim Ahmed also being kept out of the playing XI.
The ones replacing them are Ravi Rampaul, Rilee Russouw, Vijay Zol and Shadab Zakati.
Courtesy: PTI
