Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers by eight points with just-in-time wicket
Posted Date – 12:04 AM, Tue – 4/18/23
PTI photo
Bangalore: The brilliant half-century of Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis came to an end as Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers by eight points with a timely three-pointer in Match 24 of IPL 2023 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday. In vain.
Maxwell, who struck 36 balls for 76, struck three fours and eight sixes, while Du Plessis, who struck 33 balls for 62, came together for a sensational counter-attack for the third wicket of 126 The two-point tie helped Royal Challengers Bangalore recover from 15/2 to continue their massive chase in Game 2.
RCB were against it chasing a top goal of 227 and were then limited to 218/8 in 20 overs for eight runs thanks to the superb batting skills of Maxwell and Du Plessis who came close to the target.
Bats dominated this southern derby as Chennai Super Kings’ Tushar Deshpande was top bowler with four overs at 3-45 for a total of 444 runs in the match. A total of 33 sixes were hit in the two innings, and the two teams played brilliantly.
Although CSK won the match, they were lucky as they conceded around six catches. However, Ajiankya Rahane saved eight runs from boundary and it ended up being the gap between the two teams.
Chasing the huge goal of a season-high 227 so far, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) got off to a poor start as Virat Kohli fell cheaply, dragging the lower edge to his body as he moved, before stumping Akash Singh Replacing Ambati Rayudu as Impact Player. Kohli struck out 6 times (4 balls, 1×4).
Maheesh Theekshana dropped a sitter, running back from halfway over the last ball of the first over as Mahipal Lomror survived. But he struck out without bothering the scorer, delivering a cart to Ruturaj Gaikwad at Tushar Deshpande’s cover point.
Skippers Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell started the repairs with a brilliant half-century counter-attack as RCB kept their chances of a successful chase alive.
Maxwell hit two sixes from Akash Singh in the third innings, Tekshana’s six in the backfield and fellow Sri Lankan Maxisha Patirana in the eighth in a row Fours and sixes thrown. He batted Ravindra Jadeja for a boundary before hitting four off Pathirana in succession to complete his 50 off 20 balls.
Du Plessis kept the scoring going at the other end as he took advantage of a difficult chance from Dhoni to break Deshpande’s two 4s and 6s in the fourth quarter and Akash Singh for 6s and 4s. A constant stream of delivery, whipping, cutting and driving with gusto. He brought 50 and 6 off their partnership over Theekshana’s long-range boundary and went on to complete his half-century with 23 balls.
Maxwell continued his power hitting at the other end, hitting a couple of sixes as they completed their 47-ball partnership of the century in a display of remarkable shooting prowess.
Theeksahana made the breakthrough for CSK, allowing Maxwell to send a long ball that Dhoni caught easily. Maxwell’s excellent 76 points came from 36 deliveries and was strewn with three boundaries and eight maxima.
Faf was thrown from his own bowling by Theekshana in the 11th but was soon caught by Dhoni as he took the lead over Moeen Ali as both batsmen were out and CSK were in the 14th over RCB roared back into the game when it fell to 159/4.
Shahbaz Ahmed took 12 for 10, Dinesh Karthik took 28 off 14 balls and CSK continued to chip in with wickets as RCB batsmen chased high asking prices.
With 31 needed for the last two overs, Suyash Prabhudessai pulled Deshpande over the boundary deep in the middle touchline and then needed 19 for the last six balls, which he hit with a backspoon on the third over Pathirana had six but Pathirana had the last laugh as he allowed Prabhudessasi to hole deep in the midwicket as CSK won by eight.
Brief score:
Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 218/8 in 20 games (Glenn Maxwell 76. Faf du Plessis 62, Dinesh Karthik ) 28, Tushar Deshpande 3-45, Matheesha Pathirana 2-42) 8 points.
