On this day in 2020: Virat Kohli's unbeaten 90 helps RCB power CSK

It was a day that had RCB’s unchecked ascent over the Chennai Super Kings penned all over them a couple of years ago in Dubai. Battling under totally different circumstances, where a roaring pandemic was the talk of the town while the fans were still trying to figure out what a bio-bubble was, the Royal Challengers were on a mission.

Winning the toss, Kohli wanted to bat first as Devdutt Padikkal continued with his decent form despite the early departure of Australian opener, Aaron Finch. Virat was out in the center next and the then-RCB captain earmarked this day to stamp his authority in the brightest of liveries as he started toying with the Chennai bowlers.

Devdutt couldn’t sustain his start and fell to the rising pressure of bringing out the big strikes. Things got from bad to worse for the Challengers as AB de Villiers fell for a silver duck while Washington Sundar could do very little to propel the total for the Challengers.

With only 33 balls to go for the innings to end, Kohli was joined by Shivam Dube in the middle and the captain took over the reins on himself to steer the ship that was wobbling dangerously close to a vortex in the middle of the ocean. With fine support from the all-rounder at the other end, Kohli played a fine knock that featured 4 fours and 4 sixes en route to his unbeaten 90 from just 52 deliveries.

With 170 to chase, the Super Kings stuttered early as Washington Sundar dealt a double whammy to remove the iconic pair of Australian all-rounder, Shane Watson, and the current RCB captain, Faf du Plessis. As RCB brimmed with panache, Ambati Rayudu and Narayan Jagadeesan calmly veered the ship off its path of doom and set them on the right track until Chris Morris smoked his timbre with an electric throw from range.

After Jagadeesan’s fall, the Super Kings could do very little to resist the Challengers and Chris Morris struck thrice in very short succession to completely destabilize the SuperKings in their pursuit of 170 on a track that was still to be braved frequently by the chasers.

The Royal Challengers secured an emphatic 37-run win as Virat Kohli was awarded the man of the match for his defining role with the bat. It was another priceless display from the then RCB captain against their southern rivals.

Match summary:

RCB:169/4

CSK:132/8

RCB won by 37 runs