Rating charts

CSK 8/10 - The Men in Yellow have had their t(h)rust with 'intent' in the powerplay. But today in the chase of 146, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis, especially the latter was off with all guns blazing making 25 off 13 as Dhoni's men made 48/1 off the first six attacking pacers, Morris and Siraj with ease and showing great intent on a dry wicket.

RCB 6/10 - RCB batted slowly yet again in the middle-overs with AB and Virat looking defensive despite the addition of Moeen Ali today. RCB managed 55 runs in nine overs in the middle-overs and focused on rotating the strike. Perhaps, they could have sent in Moeen Ali to play aggressively at 4 with the spinners' stock deliveries coming into the left-hander.

CSK 9/10 - After a great start in the powerplay, CSK never got complacent and kept going hard against the RCB bowlers with Ruturaj Gaikwad showing his class against spin and Ambati Rayudu nailing the pacers down. They showed the kind of aggression that CSK fans had longed for throughout the tournament, adding 79 in nine overs.

RCB N/A - With 19 needed off 30 and CSK having eight wickets in hand, it was a dead game by the time RCB entered the death bowling phase. So, it would be unfair to rate them on that, their poor bowling earlier was enough for CSK to nail the total down. 

CSK 9/10 - It was a phenomenal death bowling display by CSK giving merely 44 runs despite both ABD and Kohli set at the end of 15 overs. It's a tough wicket to bat on and as soon as new batsmen like Moeen and Morris came in, they struggled to get going. After giving 24 in first two death overs, CSK pulled back things in some style giving only 20 in the final three. 

RCB's opening woes 

It seems RCB will only drop Aaron Finch after they are done with the tournament to the airport. After looking good early on with a couple of boundaries, Finch flattered to deceive as he was a goner on 15, failing yet again, putting pressure on his young partner to make a move. Devdutt Padikkal hasn't been a quick starter and again faltered as he made 22 off 20 in powerplay overs. In a bid to hit a biggie against Santner, he perished not making any use of the slow start. For him to score big, he needs to anchor or else, he finds himself in troubled waters. The Reds need to open with Josh Philippe before it's too late and it leaves way too much to do for the other three in top four.

Kohli was lambasted for demoting AB de Villiers against KXIP.  But de Villiers has had his struggles in the middle-overs with spinners dominating the run of play. Leading up to the game, his strike-rate in middle-overs was 107. And today, he was striking at run-a-ball, in overs between 7 and 15. Most of the ABD specials have come in with him killing it in the final five overs against pacers. Coming into this edition, ABD's middle-overs strike-rate was 134.7, which has taken a sharp fall and it won't be a bad idea to send him keeping in mind the overs than the batting position given his ineffectiveness against spin thus far.

Sam Curran does it again

Turning Point 

AB de Villiers might have had his issues against spinners but he has been freakish, to say, the least against pacers at death. With RCB taking 24 off first two death overs, they must have fancied to finish with a flourish especially with a set ABDv in the middle looking to go big. But, it wasn't to be as Deepak Chahar dismissed the Proteas great on the third ball of the 18th over on 39 off 36 after which the Reds could only manage 17 runs off the final 15 deliveries to end with a total of 145.

After a thrilling Sunday last week, with both games going right down to the wire and requiring Super Overs' intervention for a result, today, the first game of the super Sunday was one where fans couldn't help but doze off consistently. It was largely a one-sided game with CSK exhibiting the kind of domination we have seen them do over the years against RCB.