RCB thrash CSK in Southern Derby to maintain winning run in IPL 2025

RCB made it two in two as they stomped over their arch-rivals, CSK in a significant show of force. Another all-round display featuring a unified front for the Royal Challengers saw them making it 2 out of 2 in the ongoing IPL and more importantly clinching a victory at Chepauk after a long time.

CSK won the toss and opted to bowl first. RCB got off to a flyer, thanks to Phil Salt who meant business from the word go. Salt’s early domination in the powerplay left the CSK bowlers scrambling for shelter while Virat Kohli played the perfect two-to-tango.

Salt’s breezy 32 up front set the trend right for RCB to make merry in the powerplay. The opening partnership between Virat and Salt read that of 45 before MS Dhoni showcased his lightning fast wicketkeeping flair once again to get the better of the English dominator.

An incoming Devdutt Padikkal had no intentions of stepping down from the mantle of domination as he continued the onslaught that was started by Salt. Padikkal rocked a steady 27 off 14 while Virat held fort at the other end. Ravichandran Ashwin stepped in with the important wicket of Padikkal as RCB stuttered for a second time.

The fall of the second wicket did very little to deter the ambitions of the Royal Challengers as an incoming Rajat Patidar wanted to continue the same sequence of attack. Despite being lucky on a couple of occasions, Patidar slammed home another excellent half-century as RCB maintained a steady scoring rate. Virat’s warring knock of 31 played the role of a bedrock before Noor Ahmad could finally get his wicket.

RCB had a bit of wobble towards the end, when they lost three four quick wickets in a span of 32 runs, thereby also impeding their scoring rate. Patidar fell for 51, while Livingstone (10), Jitesh Sharma (12) and Krunal Pandya (0) couldn’t add too many runs to the scorecard.

What looked like a 200-plus score was suddenly divested of its wheels and the number started looking bleaker. Keeping the CSK top six in mind, RCB needed to garner as many runs as they could and in a bid for resurgence, it was Tim David who stepped up to the task. A tempestuous 22* towards the end from just 8 balls which also featured a hat trick of sixes in the final over against Sam Curran played an instrumental role in propelling RCB to 196/7.

Shooting down a monumental total, CSK were crammed into an uncomfortable corner at the very start as Josh Hazlewood’s opening over saw them teetering along the brink. Hoff got rid of the dangerous Rahul Tripathi (5) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (0) to lay down the platform of dominance for RCB.

Following in the Aussie’s footsteps, Bhuvneshwar Kumar tightened the screws first with some economical bowling before producing the scalp of Deepak Hooda (4) to leave CSK wobbling at 26/3. Had it not been for the resilience of Rachin Ravindra up front, the Super Kings only kept on digging a deeper grave for them.

RCB kept on chipping away at the wickets at one end as Liam Livingstone was the next to join the party, claiming Sam Curran (8). Shivam Dube (19) and Rachin Ravindra (41) did put up a crucial partnership adding 23 runs for the fifth wicket but Yash Dayal’s double whammy in the same over removed both the set batters.

With the required rate shooting through the skies, the pressure started manifolding for CSK and RCB cashed in on that very juncture. In the face of an asking rate that read north of 15, CSK could only manage to bring in those big shots in the last two overs but the ship had already sailed by then. MSD did play a 16-ball-30 knock but it wasn’t enough to bring the Super Kings within the vicinity of the finishing line.

Josh Hazlewood finished as the pick of the bowling lot with figures of 3/21 while he had support from Liam Livingstone and Yash Dayal as the duo shared four wickets between them. Rajat Patidar won the Player of the Match award for his incredible half-century as RCB won the match by 50 runs.