IPL SRL | RCB vs CSK Evaluation Chart - Ruthless CSK demolish RCB to claim bragging rights

Match Review

Winning the toss on a flat Chinnaswamy deck, MS Dhoni’s CSK side unsurprisingly opted to chase first. The away side had a brisk start, accounting for both the openers within the powerplay, but a thumping 118-run stand between the golden duo of AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli propelled RCB’s score to 178, something that looked like a competitive first-innings total. CSK spinners had a forgettable day as neither one of them was able to pick a wicket.

In response, Watson and du Plessis started off cautiously, negating the tricky first couple of overs, but then hell broke loose from thereon as the two veterans combined for an outrageous 158-run opening stand. A combination of Watson’s power and du Plessis’ finesse was too hot to handle for the RCB bowlers, who wore off in no time and conceded the game as early as the 12th over. Eventually, despite losing both the openers, CSK marched home with 8 wickets and 15 balls to spare.

Turning Point

Given the second innings was one-way traffic, there was no real momentum shift as such, but RCB would definitely look back at the last two overs of their innings. At 161/2 with both Kohli and de Villiers batting, they would have hoped for a score around to 190 mark, yet some mindless batting meant that they posted just 17 runs off their last 2 overs for the loss of four wickets. Criminal, to say the least. 

Highs and Lows

The whole innings of CSK was a compressed highlight package, but the breathtaking moment of the match came in the second over, when Kohli struck a six and a four off Shardul Thakur on just his second and third deliveries. That sent an instant message to the CSK bowlers that he was here to inflict pain on them, and eventually, inflict pain he did.

RCB’s Achilles Heel has been their fragile lower-order middle order and yet again they disappointed, failing to capitalize on a wondrous platform. Kohli and de Villiers cannot do a job every day of the week, but sadly, RCB just cannot seem to get their fringe players stand-up under pressure. Disappointing, but not surprising. 

Rating Charts

Powerplay exploitation: Bangalore 8/10 and Chennai 9.5/10

Losing both openers within the powerplay seems to be the norm in this SRL, and RCB followed the unwritten rule today. However, they did not let the loss of wickets hamper their run rate and through the genius of Kohli and ABD, the Bengaluru side managed to steady the ship in no time and get themselves on the front foot by the end of the 6th over. Most sides would take 51/2 in the first powerplay, I presume.

CSK are the ‘Sharma ji’s son’ of the IPL. You think you’ve done a good job, but no, they come out there with the sole purpose of embarrassing you and they do it with elan. 13/0 off the first 2 overs indicated that CSK might have been eyeing a cautious start, but BOOM, both Watson and du Plessis went bonkers in the next four overs to take their score to 63/0 at the end of the powerplay. 

Middle-overs manoeuvring: Bangalore 7/10 and Chennai 9/10

When you lose two wickets in the powerplay, no matter who you’ve got out there batting in the middle, you have no option but to consolidate. Luckily, RCB had two batsmen who know how to build an innings blindfolded and between overs 7 and 15, Kohli and ABD collected 73 runs without taking risks and ended up losing no wickets. The most impressive part of the rebuilding process was that they were willing to hit the CSK spinners out of the attack. Tahir and Jadeja combinedly ended with figures of 7-0-66-0. 

So often teams tend to lose their head after a brisk start upfront but today, that’s where the experience of Watson and Faf kicked in. There was not a single over between overs 7-15 that yielded under six runs and remarkably, the duo made it out of the middle overs unscathed, not giving the RCB bowlers even the slightest of sniffs. 88 runs are what they managed in the middle overs and fair to say, this was where they took the game away from the home side. 

Death bowling: Chennai 8/10 and Bangalore 6/10

At 124/2 with both Kohli and ABD well-set, RCB had the perfect platform to go for the kill and post a score close to 200, but the Chennai pacers did a remarkable job of pulling things back to ensure that they had the upper hand during the innings break. Both Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur claimed two wickets each at the death and incredibly, Thakur’s final over only cost 4 runs - he also picked two wickets in the process. 

When CSK approached their death overs with the bat, the game was already dead, with them needing 21 off 24 balls with 10 wickets in hand. Morris did end up dismissing both the openers, but that was about it. Nothing more than a mere consolation prize. 

Match Frenzy O Meter - Good

T20 is all about big hitting and today was an exhibition of big hitting by the quartet of Kohli, ABD, Faf and Watson. Certainly, there were dull moments in the match, especially towards the end of CSK’s innings, but from a neutral perspective, it did give the fans plenty of reasons to jump around, throughout the course of the match.