Bengaluru: Brilliant half-centuries by Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis went in vain as Chennai Super Kings chipped in with timely wickets to prevail over Royal Challengers by eight runs in Match 24 of IPL 2023 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Monday.
Maxwell struck a 36-ball 76, smashing three fours and eight sixes while and Du Plessis hammered a 33-ball 62 as they came together for a sensational counter-attacking 126-run partnership for the third wicket that helped Royal Challengers Bangalore recover from 15/2 in the second over to keep on course for a massive chase.
RCB were up against it chasing the highest target of 227 and thanks to the brilliant batsmanship of Maxwell and Du Plessis came close to the target before being restricted to 218/8 in 20 overs, losing by eight runs.
The bats dominated the ball in this Southern Derby as 444 aggregate runs were scored in the match in which Tushar Deshpande of Chennai Super Kings emerged as the best bowler with 3-45 off four overs. In all 33 sixes were hit in two innings combined as the two teams put up a splendid display of big hitting. Though CSK won the match, they were lucky as they dropped around half a dozen catches. However, Ajiankya Rahane saved eight runs at the boundary and that ended up as the difference between the two teams.
Chasing a massive target of 227, the highest this season so far, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) got off to a poor start as Virat Kohli fell cheaply, dragging on an under edge onto his body and then the stump as he moved away to hit Akash Singh, who came in for Ambati Rayudu as Impact Player, out of the ground. Kohli was out for 6 (4 balls, 1×4).
Maheesh Theekshana dropped a sitter, running back from mid-off of the last ball of the first over as Mahipal Lomror survived a chance. But he was out without troubling the scorer, offering a dolly to Ruturaj Gaikwad at cover-point off Tushar Deshpande.
Skipper Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell set on the repair job with brilliant counter-attacking half-centuries as RCB maintained their chances for a successful chase.
Maxwell smashed two sixes off Akash Singh in the third over, flicked Theekshana for a six over the backward square and bashed a four and six off successive deliveries by fellow Sri Lankan Matheesha Pathirana in the eighth over. He smacked Ravindra Jadeja for a boundary and then smashed back-to-back fours off Pathirana to complete his fifty in 20 balls.
Du Plessis kept up the scoring rate from the other end as he capitalised on an early drop off a difficult chance by Dhoni for a boundary to smash two fours and a six off Deshpande in the fourth over and smacked Akash Singh to a six and four off successive deliveries, whipping, cutting and driving with relish. He brought of the fifty of their partnership with a six over the long-off boundary of Theekshana and went on to complete his half-century off 23 balls.
Maxwell continued his power-hitting at the other end, bashing a couple of sixes as they completed their century partnership in 47 balls, putting up an extraordinary display of shot-making.
Theeksahana made the breakthrough for CSK when he got Maxwell to sky a length ball sent wide and Dhoni completed an easy catch. Maxwell’s brilliant 76 came off 36 deliveries and was studded with three boundaries and eight maximums.
Faf was dropped by Theekshana off his own bowling in the 11th over but was soon caught by Dhoni as he top-edged Moeen Ali as both set batters got out and CSK roared back into the match as RCB slumped to 159/4 in the 14th over.
Shahbaz Ahmed made 12 off 10 and Dinesh Karthik smashed 28 off 14 balls as CSK continued to chip in with wickets as RCB batters chased the big asking rate.
With 31 runs needed off the last two overs, Suyash Prabhudessai pulled Deshpande over the deep midwicket boundary and then with 19 needed off the final six balls, he struck Pathirana for a six with a reverse scoop on the third delivery but Pathirana had the last laugh as he got Prabhudessasi holing out at deep midwicket as CSK won by eight runs.
Brief scores:
Chennai Super Kings 226/6 in 20 overs (Devon Conway 83, Shivam Dube 52, Ajinkya Rahane 37; Wanindu Hasaranga 1-21) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 218/8 in 20 overs (Glenn Maxwell 76, Faf du Plessis 62, Dinesh Karthik 28; Tushar Deshpande 3-45, Matheesha Pathirana 2-42) by 8 runs.
–IANS