IPL 2019, RCB vs CSK: Captaincy move that won the game for RCB
The 39th match of Indian Premier League which is also known as South Indian Derby was played between defending champions Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The encounter was held in front of the Bengaluru crowd at M.Chinnaswamy stadium. CSK won the toss and elected to bowl first and made an important change in the team as Dwayne Bravo returned from injury. AB de Villiers returned to the starting line up for RCB.
Parthiv Patel and skipper Virat Kohli opened the innings for RCB. Unfortunately, Kohli went back to the dugout for just nine runs, followed by de Villiers for 25. Parthiv played a responsible inning of 53 runs and with the help of Moeen Ali, took the team to a respectable total of 161 runs.
South African seamer Dale Steyn shocked the Super Kings camp by taking two big wickets of Shane Watson and Suresh Raina in his first over itself. Another surprise came from Umesh Yadav. Trusting Yadav with two overs in the power play was a brilliant move from the RCB captain as he took the wickets of Faf Du Plessis and Kedar Jadhav. It put the visiting team on the back-foot in the chase.
After the defending champions got off to a horrible start, Ambati Rayudu and MS Dhoni built a 50 run partnership. Despite, Dhoni playing brilliant innings at the death, CSK required 26 from last over. Royal Challengers Bangalore gave Umesh Yadav the responsibility to bowl the final over. In trademark fashion, Dhoni smashed 24 off the first five balls with three sixes and a boundary.
On the last ball, Chennai Super Kings required two runs to win. A wide slower ball from Umesh Yadav changed the match. Dhoni failed to get a touch and led to the run-out of Shardul Thakur. This ensured Royal Challengers Bangalore snatched victory from the hands of Chennai Super Kings' in a dramatic encounter by just one run.
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