Bengaluru: Splendid fifties by Devon Conway and Shivam Dube helped Chennai Super Kings defeat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 8 runs at Chinnaswamy stadium here on Monday.
The cameos from Dube, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu and Moeen Ali, along with the top order batsmen, gave leverage for Chennai to post 226/6, the second highest total of the season.
In reply, Bangalore suffered two early blows off Chennai’s Impact Player Akash Singh cleaning up Virat Kohli in the very first over for six.
At 15/2, Faf du Plessis was joined by Glenn Maxwell, who took the bowling apart in a carnage. The duo forged a 126-run stand for the third wicket.
With 86 needed off 8 overs, Maheesh Theekshana provided the vital breakthrough by enticing Maxwell (76 off 36 3x4s 8x6s) into a false stroke just when the match hung in balance.
Du Plessis, who was lucky to have been dropped on a duck and 52, followed suit in the very next over as he fell to Moeen after scoring 62 off 33 with 5 boundaries and 4 sixes.
Matheesha Pathirana and Tushar Deshpande were employed in the death, and came out with flying colours under pressure.
They bowled a few wides, but Mahendra Singh Dhoni would be pretty pleased with that performance as they held their nerves.
Despite starting off badly by losing opener Ruturaj Gaikwad early on, Chennai batsmen stayed put. Leading the pack was Rahane who tore apart Bangalore bowlers right from word go and brought the momentus back in Chennai’s favour.
Conway also joined the party and looked ominous from the start of the match. Along with Rahane, he had a crucial 84 runs partnership for the second wicket, taking the total to 90 from 16 runs in 10th over.
Once Rahane departed after scoring 37 off 20 with 3 boundaries and 2 sixes, Dube took charge.
Dube clobbered a few biggest sixes of the evening as he notched up a brisk 52 off 27 balls. He smashed 5 mighty sixes and two boundaries in his fabulous innings.
Conway missed on his century by 17 runs after Harshal Patel cleaned him up with a yorker.
Moeen Ali (19 off 9) and Ravindra Jadeja (10 off 8) struck a few mighty blows in the death, and helped Chennai post the second highest total of the season.
Vijaykumar Vyshak who had an impressive IPL debut in the last match against Delhi Capitals, had a forgetful night. He conceded 62 runs off 4 overs, but Ambati Rayudu’s (14 off 6) wicket might have given him some relief.
Other Bangalore bowlers were punished too, but all of them picked up a wicket each.
