CHENNAI: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by seven-wicket. Bangalore lost the toss and were bowled out for 70, before the hosts reached their target with 14 balls to spare. “The wicket definitely needs to be much better,” said ex-India skipper Dhoni.
Keeper Parthiv Patel (29) was the only member of the star-studded Bangalore line-up- including India’s Captain, Virat Kohli, England’s Moeen Ali and ex-South Africa star AB de Villiers – to make double figures as the visitors crumbled.
Chennai took advantage of the conditions with a spin-heavy attack led by veteran spinners Harbhajan Singh (3-20) and Imran Tahir (3-9), only sending down 4.1 overs of seam. “It was a very good bowling effort by Harbhajan to give us a kind of start that was very well capitalized by the other spinners,” said Dhoni.
Despite losing ex-Australia opener Shane Watson for a 10-ball duck, the Super Kings cruised home with Suresh Raina (19) becoming the first man to pass 5,000 IPL runs. Bangalore skipper Kohli reflected, “No one wants to start like this, but it’s good to get a game like this out of the way this early in the tournament.”
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