IPL 2018: Similarities between CSK's 208/5 and 205/5 against RCB(2012) and KKR(2018) respectively
Chennai Super Kings returned to Chennai with a thrilling win over the Kolkata Knight Riders. The Super Kings have always dominated KKR in Chepauk, having lost just twice and both times in IPL 2012, when Kolkata went on to win the trophy in Chennai. The fans of the Chennai based franchise were overwhelmed by the return of their team to Chennai. The fans had previously witnessed a very similar run chase in 2012 when Chennai successfully chased down the then second highest successful run chase against the Royal Challengers.
What is astonishing is that both the chases have many similarities. Here are a few of them:
#5 50+ run opening partnership
2012:
An Indian and an overseas batsman opened the innings for Chennai and on both occasions, they provided the right start to chase down such big targets. It was Murali Vijay and Faf du Plessis who opened the batting for CSK in 2012 and they put together 56 runs in 41 balls, with du Plessis doing the bulk of the scoring.
2018:
In this year's edition, Ambati Rayudu and Shane Watson competed with each other to clear the boundary ropes. Watson (42 off 19) and Rayudu (39 off 26) together scored 75 runs in the first 35 balls thereby providing a blazing start to the chase.