Middle order's efforts go in vain as CSK get their first win

There are days when even the best fails and on one such bad day in office the Challengers came undone against a superior Chennai Super Kings. Faf won the toss and elected to field first that saw the RCB opening bowlers doing a decent job of keeping the Chennai batters reticent for a while.

It was Hazlewood who got the better of Ruturaj Gaikwad with an absolute peach. This was followed by an electric piece of fielding from debutant Suyash Prabhudessai who pulled off a thumping run-out to send back Moeen Ali for cheap. If only RCB would have known that the removal of Ali would have opened up the Pandora's box.

Former RCB all-rounder Shivam Dube took it upon him to bring out the heavy artillery after the ship was stabilized. Robin Uthappa waited for a while and then got in perfect sync with Dube to let the fireworks fly.

The duo stitched together an incredible stand of 165 runs that would be the highest partnership so far in the ongoing edition of the tournament. Almost every RCB bowler got whacked around as Shivam Dube and Robin Uthappa stitched together the dance of death for the Challengers.

It was Wanindu Hasaranga who managed to get the better of Robin Uthappa with a lofted delivery that was smacked straight into the arms of Virat Kohli. Hasaranga got another one on the night as he returned Ravindra Jadeja for a golden duck. Despite bagging two wickets on the bounce, the dent was already there as Chennai finished their rampage at 216 with Dube staying unbeaten for 95.

The Challengers were jolted to a rude awakening as chasing a momentous 217, they lost Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli in a very short span of time with the chase already wobbling at 20 for 2. Despite a short little partnership between Anuj Rawat and Glenn Maxwell, it was Maheesh Theeksana who dealt the all-important clout that would see the back of Anuj Rawat who started looking menacing.

Despite the early rampage sparked by Glenn Maxwell that saw him scoring 26 off just 10 balls, it was once again Ravindra Jadeja who proved to be the Big Show’s nemesis, kissing his bails with a straight skitter. With the chase stuttering at 50 for the loss of 4, there was a deja-vu of a collapse slowly creeping in.

However, debutant Suyash Prabhudessai was not going to stay shut as he joined forces with Shahbaz Ahmed to start laying the building blocks of repair that would see him conjuring a handful of neat strokes, a welcome sight for any debutant in the world.

Shahbaz played an anchoring role while Suyash took the fight to the bowlers, propelling RCB to 110 before Maheesh Theeksana pulled off another skitter that would cannon through the batter’s defences to clatter onto his timbre.

Dinesh Karthik was out next and played the perfect role of a spectator as Shahbaz Ahmed waged a full-blown rebellion bringing out the big hits that sent a handful of chills down the Kings’ spine.

Sadly, for Shahbaz, it was once again the Sri Lankan spinner’s speed that caught the former off-guard and shattered his timbre, leaving him gutted after a warring knock of 41 from 27 balls. Despite running short of partners at the other end, Dinesh Karthik vowed to play until the very end, sparking a few hopes for the RCB fans.

However, it was a colossal mountain to climb for the Challengers but DK did pull off another blockbuster show to reach the base camp but in the process of trying to kiss the stars, he ended up holing out to Ravindra Jadeja who pulled off an absolute stunner to snuff all hopes of a miraculous turnaround.

Despite being 50 for 4 at one point in time, the Challengers managed to hang in there till the very end as they put together an incredible showdown that propelled them to a humongous 193 at the end of their 20 overs, a total that would keep the hopes in the spirits high enough for the following game against the Delhi Capitals on Saturday.