On this day in 2019 - RCB beat CSK by 1 run
To say that RCB had a challenging start to the 2019 season would be an understatement. The very first game of the season, which was much hyped, for it was the mother of all derbies with the Royal Challengers Bangalore taking on the Chennai Superkings had ended in a disaster, with RCB being bowled out for 70 which the rivals from South India chased down comfortably. RCB had endured a difficult period having lost the following 5 games, but it looked like the fortunes of the team had taken an upturn recently. The team had won 2 of its last 3 games, against Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders. Irrespective of the form of the team and the consequences of the game’s result, when RCB take on CSK, it is always a spectacle. Even if it is a dead rubber, the two teams want to get one over the other.
Kohli’s torrid luck with the coin in the tournament continued and RCB were asked to set a total. The skipper, fresh from a century against KKR a few days ago, started off with a boudnary, but was tempted into driving an away-swinging delivery by Deepak Chahar which he only managed to edge to Dhoni behind the stumps. De Villiers and Parthiv Patel negotiated the powerplay admirably and kept the runs flowing despite the early loss of Kohli. RCB were dealt a hammer blow when De Villiers trying to clear long-off holed out to Du Plessis off Ravindra Jadeja in the very first over after the powerplay.
The responsibility was now on Parthiv Patel to anchor the innings. He found an ally in Akshdeep Nath and the duo put on a partnership of 41 runs in 35 balls. Parthiv kept going, and brought up his fifty off 36 balls in the 16th over of the innings. He fell off the very next ball trying to take charge of the scoring rate, which was hovering around 8 an over at the time. Stoinis soon fell in a similar quest, thanks to Du Plessis’s presence of mind at the long-off fence. RCB’s innings found its saviour in the death overs in Moeen Ali. The all-rounder from England found the boundary ropes 5 times en route to his 16-ball 26 and took RCB to 161/7 in the allotted overs.
Chennai Super Kings were one of the finest chasing teams in the tournament. The destructive batting lineup of the Superkings also boasted of one of the best, if not the best, finishers in the modern era in Dhoni. If RCB were to have any hope in defending a below-par score at the Chinnaswamy, they needed to pick up early wickets. The arrival of Dale Steyn had given the bowling unit a bit of spice which seemed missing in the first half of the tournament.
RCB needed their wicket-taking weapon to fire. Watson latched on to one off the backfoot and pulled the ball away off the 4th ball of the innings for a four. Steyn got his revenge the very next ball. Steyn seduced Watson into driving a seemingly juicy, over-pitched delivery, only for it to swing away late and take the outside edge, which was accepted gleefully by Marcus Stoinis in the slips. Suresh Raina hung back, probably expecting a serving of a bouncer, only to see an in-swinging yorker shatter his stumps. Steyn had induced belief in the RCB ranks in the very first over.
Steyn delivered a fierce spell of fast bowling with the new ball which brought RCB back into the game
The first over by Steyn had inspired the Indian seamers Saini and Umesh Yadav. Saini conceded only one run off his first over and when Yadav got the ball, he hurried even the South African skipper FAF Du Plessis, who was beaten for pace, and his pull only landed in De Villiers’s hands. When Kedar Jadhav fell in a similar manner, RCB had turned the tide in their favour. The mighty CSK batting had been reduced to 32/4 at the end of the powerplay. RCB, however would be mindful of celebrating too early. The game had not yet been won, and with Rayudu batting with Dhoni, the same partnership which had taken CSK to victory the previous season from an apparently impossible position.
RCB would have feared an encore when Rayudu and Dhoni started to put together a partnership again. The runs required were getting smaller, and despite the required rate swelling up, it would have mattered little to Dhoni and CSK. RCB needed someone to break the partnership. As it invariably is the case, it was Chahal who provided RCB the crucial breakthrough in the middle overs. Rayudu was beaten by a full delivery which spun past his bat and disturbed the off stump. The 55-run partnership had been broken and RCB were well in the game.
RCB were managing to get through overs without much damage to the scoreboard. But, as is Dhoni’s modus operandi, he was trying to take the game deep. As long as Dhoni was batting, RCB could not rest. Despite Jadeja’s run out, thanks to some sharp work by Saini, RCB were not home and hosed. 49 required off the last three overs became 26 off the last over. Surely, only the most optimistic of viewers would bet on even Dhoni to win the game from there. Umesh Yadav was tasked with bringing the game home for Bangalore. The first ball went for four, but the required rate still went up. The next ball was deposited out of the stadium, 16 needed off 4. A hit over long-off just evaded De Villiers and the equation had now been reduced to 10 off 3. CSK were well and truly back in the game. The fourth ball went for a brace and CSK needed 8 off the last two balls with Dhoni still on strike.
Umesh tried to bowl a similar delivery, but this time Dhoni planted the full toss over the boundary ropes, 6 more. 26 off the last 6 had become 2 off the last ball. An unlikely miracle had become a highly likely result. Everything Umesh Yadav had tried had vanished. That is when Umesh showed courage. He bowled a slower delivery on length, Dhoni trying to do the smart thing by working the ball away for a couple missed, Parthiv Patel hit the stumps from behind to find a sprinting Shardul Thakur short of the crease, bringing back memories of the famous Indian victory against Bangladesh in the World T20 at the Chinnaswamy. Dhoni’s heroic knock of 84 from 48 balls had gone in vain. RCB had pipped the Chennai Superkings by a solitary run in a thriller for the ages.
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