The Chennai Super Kings sealed an emphatic win against the home team, Royal Challengers Bangalore, at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday. The vocal Bangalore crowd turned mute as Chennai turned on the heat.
As it turned out, the Bangalore batsmen succumbed to a miserly and majestic spell from the superman in yellow, Ashish Nehra. He ran in hard. He generated good pace. He swung the ball and hit the timber. No one in the RCB line-up had answers to Nehra’s bowling.
Defending a total of 182, RCB started well by scoring nine runs of the first over. Nehra kept them quiet in the second over as he conceded only three runs. Mohit Sharma, in the next over conceded 19 runs. Nehra struck then.
Twin trouble
Nehra halted RCB’s initial surge by striking twice in the second over. How often have we seen Faf du Plessis running backwards and taking a shoulder-breaking catch? One such catch at mid-off gave Nehra his first wicket.
He earned his second when he rattled the stumps with an in-swinger and blew a kiss to his victim, Rilee Rossouw. At the end of six overs Nehra’s figures read 3-0-9-2.
Nehra 2.0
Fifteen overs had been bowled. RCB needed 60 runs of the last five. Difficult but not impossible. RCB skipper Virat Kohli, batting at 51, was all set to cut loose.
Dhoni brought back Ashish Nehra and he responded by sending the RCB's skipper back to the dug-out in the very first ball of the over. Then he picked up the wicket of Harshal Patel the very next ball. RCB’s game was over.
Nehra has been the game changer in the last two seasons for Chennai Super Kings. This season, he has delightfully complimented the batsmen who have put big runs on the board. With eleven wickets so far, the veteran has rightfully earned the purple cap.
The other CSK bowlers followed Nehra’s tune and made life difficult for the RCB batsmen. The fielding unit was at its usual best. Dwayne Bravo dived forward and took a spectacular catch at long on to add to the woes of an out-of-form Dinesh Karthik.
ABD and MSD: A “stick”y love affair
MSD’s glovework proved to be the game changing moment when India took on South Africa in the 2015 World Cup. Who can forget Mohit Sharma’s throw? Who can forget Dhoni's lightning-quick work in running De Villiers out?
ABD, who had hit two sixes in his knock of 14 runs in this IPL match, once again fell prey to Dhoni’s smart glovework. He perished similarly to Dhoni; his team fell similarly to Dhoni’s team.
Raina comes to the rescue
Earlier, Virat Kohli won the rain-delayed toss and let CSK bat first. Raina came to the party after CSK lost Brendon McCullum early. He smashed 62 runs of 32 balls. Along with Dwayne Smith, he made sure that Chennai posted a competitive total on a wicket that favoured the batsmen.
“We could have done better,” said the CSK skipper.
What made him say so?
Was it McCullum’s inconsistency?
Was it Dwayne Smith’s inability to convert a start into big innings?
Was it his own poor form with the bat?
Was it the repeated failure of the overhyped all-rounder aka Ravindra Jadeja?
A combination of all the above factors proved to be decisive in the previous match. It might continue to do so when CSK take on quality opponents in the coming matches.
Ravichandran Ashwin has been leaking a lot of runs. So has Mohit Sharma, who has been expensive in the last few matches.
Jadeja the spinner has not been up to the mark. Unlike the other teams, CSK’s spin department has failed miserably in the last few matches. And Jadeja, the batsman, has also been pathetic. His highest score in the last ten innings, which includes his World Cup knocks, is 23. He has not been able to add vital runs to the score during the end overs.
Is it time for Dhoni to rethink his team composition? Should he be giving Irfan Pathan, who is eager to launch a comeback, a chance ?
But long as the team keeps winning matches, Dhoni’s strategy will remain unquestioned.
As it turned out, the Bangalore batsmen succumbed to a miserly and majestic spell from the superman in yellow, Ashish Nehra. He ran in hard. He generated good pace. He swung the ball and hit the timber. No one in the RCB line-up had answers to Nehra’s bowling.
Defending a total of 182, RCB started well by scoring nine runs of the first over. Nehra kept them quiet in the second over as he conceded only three runs. Mohit Sharma, in the next over conceded 19 runs. Nehra struck then.
Twin trouble
Nehra halted RCB’s initial surge by striking twice in the second over. How often have we seen Faf du Plessis running backwards and taking a shoulder-breaking catch? One such catch at mid-off gave Nehra his first wicket.
He earned his second when he rattled the stumps with an in-swinger and blew a kiss to his victim, Rilee Rossouw. At the end of six overs Nehra’s figures read 3-0-9-2.
Nehra 2.0
Fifteen overs had been bowled. RCB needed 60 runs of the last five. Difficult but not impossible. RCB skipper Virat Kohli, batting at 51, was all set to cut loose.
Dhoni brought back Ashish Nehra and he responded by sending the RCB's skipper back to the dug-out in the very first ball of the over. Then he picked up the wicket of Harshal Patel the very next ball. RCB’s game was over.
Nehra has been the game changer in the last two seasons for Chennai Super Kings. This season, he has delightfully complimented the batsmen who have put big runs on the board. With eleven wickets so far, the veteran has rightfully earned the purple cap.
The other CSK bowlers followed Nehra’s tune and made life difficult for the RCB batsmen. The fielding unit was at its usual best. Dwayne Bravo dived forward and took a spectacular catch at long on to add to the woes of an out-of-form Dinesh Karthik.
ABD and MSD: A “stick”y love affair
MSD’s glovework proved to be the game changing moment when India took on South Africa in the 2015 World Cup. Who can forget Mohit Sharma’s throw? Who can forget Dhoni's lightning-quick work in running De Villiers out?
ABD, who had hit two sixes in his knock of 14 runs in this IPL match, once again fell prey to Dhoni’s smart glovework. He perished similarly to Dhoni; his team fell similarly to Dhoni’s team.
Raina comes to the rescue
Earlier, Virat Kohli won the rain-delayed toss and let CSK bat first. Raina came to the party after CSK lost Brendon McCullum early. He smashed 62 runs of 32 balls. Along with Dwayne Smith, he made sure that Chennai posted a competitive total on a wicket that favoured the batsmen.
“We could have done better,” said the CSK skipper.
What made him say so?
Was it McCullum’s inconsistency?
Was it Dwayne Smith’s inability to convert a start into big innings?
Was it his own poor form with the bat?
Was it the repeated failure of the overhyped all-rounder aka Ravindra Jadeja?
A combination of all the above factors proved to be decisive in the previous match. It might continue to do so when CSK take on quality opponents in the coming matches.
Ravichandran Ashwin has been leaking a lot of runs. So has Mohit Sharma, who has been expensive in the last few matches.
Jadeja the spinner has not been up to the mark. Unlike the other teams, CSK’s spin department has failed miserably in the last few matches. And Jadeja, the batsman, has also been pathetic. His highest score in the last ten innings, which includes his World Cup knocks, is 23. He has not been able to add vital runs to the score during the end overs.
Is it time for Dhoni to rethink his team composition? Should he be giving Irfan Pathan, who is eager to launch a comeback, a chance ?
But long as the team keeps winning matches, Dhoni’s strategy will remain unquestioned.
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