Chennai Super Kings 191 for 4 (Jadeja 62*, du Plessis 50) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 122 for 9 (Padikkal 34, Jadeja 3-13) by 69 runs
A sensational all-round performance from Ravindra Jadeja proved to be the roadblock in RCB’s quest for winning their fifth consecutive game of Vivo IPL 2021 on Sunday. His contribution in all three departments helped CSK beat RCB by a huge margin of 69 runs and thereby reached the top of the points table.
Riding on a brilliant start from Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad, coupled with Ravindra Jadeja’s carnage in the final over, CSK posted a mammoth 191-run total in the first innings. Despite getting a strong start in the powerplay, RCB stars succumbed in the middle overs of the second innings and could only manage 122 in the end.
Here’s a look at three major talking points from the 19th game between RCB and CSK:
Ravindra Jadeja – The guy who every team crave for
There were happy faces in the RCB camp until the 19th over of the first innings. Harshal Patel, who enjoyed an outstanding spell (3/13) until then, was given the final over. However, little did he know what was about to follow. Ravindra Jadeja, who was at 26 off 21 balls at that time, put on a show in the last over, while MS Dhoni watched it unfold at the other end.
Jadeja hit four sixes off the first four balls. With the fourth ball being a no-ball, Jadeja had collected 25 runs in the first three balls. He then sneaked a double before hitting a six and a four in the last two balls. From 154 for 4 in 19 overs, CSK finished the innings at 191/4. Ravindra Jadeja ended up scoring an unbeaten 62 off 28 balls. Jadeja's last over cameo was simply unbelievable and too much to digest for the RCB skipper Virat Kohli.
RCB, however, didn’t lose heart from the last over debacle and made a strong start in the second innings. Riding on Devdutt Padikkal’s fierce 34-run cameo, the Red Army raced to 44 in the first three overs.
At 65 for 2 after 6 overs, Ravindra Jadeja once again made his entry, this time with the ball. He didn’t take long to send back Washington Sundar in his very first over. Obliging to MS Dhoni’s instructions, he didn’t give any room to Maxwell and bowled him out in his second over. If this wasn’t enough, he showcased his rocket arm through to run Daniel Christian out, leaving RCB in trouble at 83 for 5 after 10 overs. The all-rounder wasn’t done yet as he foxed one of the bests in the business, AB de Villiers in his third over to send the latter back to the dressing room and thereby sealed the game for CSK.
MS Dhoni – The Tactician
MS Dhoni might not have been performing too well with the bat, but there’s still no one who reads the game better than him. Dhoni, once again, showcased the impact he can make in the game just by standing behind the wickets. Despite, RCB made a quick-fire start in the power play overs, they lost half of their wickets inside 10.1 overs, a lot of credit for that should go for MS Dhoni for making some notable bowling chances.
He used three seamers in the first six overs and they claimed the wickets of both the openers. Dhoni applied spin on both ends to put pressure on Maxwell and AB de Villiers right from their start of the innings.
His instruction to not give any room to Maxwell provided CSK with the latter’s wicket to leave AB de Villiers with a lot to do. He continued with Jadeja and Imran Tahir until the former send AB de Villiers back and thereby seal the game for the yellow army.
RCB’s No. 3 Conundrum
After losing their first game of the tournament on Sunday against CSK, RCB’s quest to find an ideal number three batsman has now intensified. They have so far tried three players at that position in Shahbaz Ahmed, Rajat Patidar and Washington Sundar. Virat Kohli has stated that they will keep on trying different players at number three in the coming games. In reality, out of all the three players tried, none of them made any impact as of now.
Every time their number three player has come out, the momentum took a beating. It was apparent against CSK as well. Padikkal made a strong start, however, the arrival of Washington Sundar did slow down the pace.
RCB instead should try Maxwell at three or they could bring Finn Allen in the side in place of Daniel Christian, who hasn’t done anything significant thus far.
Questions To Be Answered
RCB’s decision to send out different batsman at the number three position has raised quite a few eyebrows. Should they send Maxwell at three or try a proper batsman in the next game?
With Imran Tahir doing a good job and Chennai playing the next game in Delhi, which overseas cricketer is likely to make way for Moeen Ali in the next game?
What lies ahead for both sides
Royal Challengers Bangalore would like to take the game as a learning curve for them and rectify the mistakes going ahead.
The mood will be great at Chennai Super Kings camp, having registered their fourth win on Sunday. They will shift their base to Delhi for their next four games, starting from Wednesday against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Records Broken
1. Ravindra Jadeja has now scored the joint-most runs by a batsman off a bowler in an over in IPL.
2. Faf du Plessis has gone past 2,500 runs in the IPL (2,516)
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