RCB bag Round 2 of Southern Derby with an all-round display

Celebratory scenes were finally back to the RCB dugout as they issued a strong counterblast, roaring past the Chennai Super Kings in emphatic manner. Despite losing out on an important toss, it was another collective display from the entire Challengers unit to finally brush aside the lean patch that consumed them for the last three games.

Put into bat first by Dhoni, RCB was off to a flyer, thanks to an excellent opening partnership that was spearheaded by the former CSK opener and the current RCB captain, Faf du Plessis. Virat Kohli anchored the innings perfectly at one end while Faf showed his class in his breezy residence at the center.

The South African opener would belt the CSK bowlers early that would see him garner 38 runs from only 21 balls before Moeen Ali would bag the all-important scalp of Faf. Much to the woes of RCB, Faf’s departure opened up the floodgates for CSK to crawl back in.

CSK would put in a staunch shift to get the better of Maxwell and Kohli in quick succession that would negate the early sway that RCB procured during Faf’s stay in the middle. It needed a resolute stand in the middle to help RCB tip the scales and two youngsters in the form of Patidar and Mahipal Lomror applied the perfect daub of overhaul that would prep the platform for RCB to pile up a defensive total.

Lomror conjured a handful of impeccable strikes to garner an all-important 42 that would tilt the fortunes of the game in RCB’s favour, setting the stage perfectly for Dinesh Karthik to storm an exquisite finish.

Even though he would be fortunate as an appeal almost went his way with the ball barely landing outside leg, he would make the perfect use of his lifeline as he would belt out another crucial knock of 26 runs from only 17 balls and would stay unbeaten to propel RCB to a fighting 173 on a surface where the turners had quite an outing for the Super Kings.

Chasing 174 to win, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway showed glimpses of the onslaught that they had put up against Sunrisers in the preceding encounter, emanating an infamous déjà vu for the RCB fans. However, it was Shahbaz Ahmed who would deal the opening blow to the Chennai Super Kings as Ruturaj Gaikwad would miscue his effort to open up a window of opportunity for the Challengers.

RCB would grab the opportunity with arms wide open as Maxwell dealt a double whammy to leave Chennai off their trajectory as the chase got tricky with every passing ball. Despite Conway and Moeen Ali compiling an important partnership to put Chennai back in the game, Hasaranga would claim the crucial scalp of Devon Conway, amplifying the stakes for CSK.

Harshal Patel would deal the telling blow to Chennai’s aspirations with an impeccable over in the dying embers and the big fish of Moeen Ali, setting him up perfectly after allowing him to whack him for a maximum. Despite a late scare, Purple Patel would perfectly hold his nerves to seal the fate of the game.

However, it was the collective efforts of Maxwell and Hazlewood that left Chennai wobbling and eventually short of the stipulated figures. Maxwell would go onto claim two important scalps for the miserly figures of just 22 runs wherein Hazlewood would continue with his imperious dominion as he would eventually rack up figures of 1 for 19 from his quota of 4 overs.

It needed some digging in for sure but the RCB bowlers put the surface to perfect use, especially the turners who would produce wickets at regular intervals that eventually rang the victory bells for RCB.