IPL 2022: Team effort helps Royal Challengers Bangalore prevail over Chennai Super Kings

Kolkata: It took Royal Challengers Bangalore a team effort, rather than just from their superstars, to end a drought  of three matches and hold off Chennai Super Kings by 13 runs in the southern derby of IPL 2022 this evening.

Despite the Chennai spinners keeping a light leash on RCB innings by striking early on, young Mahipal Lomror (42 off 27 balls) showed remarkable character with some help from Rajat Patidar before master finisher Dinesh Karthik (26 off 17) gave them a late surge to a challenging total of 173 for eight wickets.

Starting the chase, both CSK openers Devon Conway (56 off 37) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (28 off 23) seemed to be carrying on the form of their previous game. However, once left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed gave them the breakthrough by removing Ruturaj, the yellow shirts kept losing wickets at regular intervals as the asking rate began climbing up.

A chase of 174 on this wicket was no mean task but they lost two of their most experienced campaigners – Robin Uthappa and Ambati Rayudu – cheaply to Maxwell as it came apart.

CSK up against it

The asking rate is 16-plus and after the departure of Jadeja and then the ominous Moeen Ali, it's a tall order for Chennai. The yellow shirts need something extraordinary from MSD here.

Conway stands out

Conway shows fine adaptability against the spinners and picks up the dangerous Hasaranga for a six. The Kiwi is anchoring the innings and completes his half-century under somewhat challenging circumstances. 

Spinners to the fore

Soon after Shahbaz removes Gaikwad, Maxwell strikes in the eighth over as he lures Uthappa. The CSK innings follows a similar pattern of their rivals - losing two wickets soon after Powerplay.

50-run stand

It's a pleasure to watch these two CSK openers at work - nice cricketing shots around the wagon wheel. Conway blasts a short ball over cow corner for a biggie to herald their 50-run partnership.

Mid-match summary: Chennai spinners call the shots

Kolkata: Chennai spinners kept a tight leash on things on a dry surface against Royal Challengers Bangalore but some late push by young Mahipal Lomror (42 off 27 balls) and master finisher Dinesh Karthik (26 off 17) helped the latter to a challenging total of 173 for eight wickets this evening.

Sent into bat by M.S.Dhoni, skipper Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli got Bangalore to their best start in the Powerplay. A 62-run partnership could have been a perfect Launchpad for RCB for an even bigger total, but Moeen Ali did the early damage by picking up both on a wicket which offered both turn and bounce.

A crucial 44-run stand between Lomror and Rajat Patidar for fourth wicket kept the RCB innings on track but Mahesh Theeksana struck three telling blows in the 19th over, removing an impressive Lomror, Wanindu Hasaranga and Shahbaz Ahmed.

A target of 174 won’t be easy for Chennai but against the likes of Hasaranga and Ahmed.

Lomror takes charge

An useful 44-run stand between two young batsmen, Patidar and Lomror ends when the latter falls to a brilliant arunning catch by Chowdhury at backward of square. Enter DK, but it's the muscular Lomror who is doing the damage.

Kohli departs

The former Indian skipper, who was looking good during his nearly run-a-ball 30, was bowled through the gate by Moeen who just completes a sensational over. Maxwell's slight hesitation in running a single sent him back little earlier and the quick wickets have certainly pushed RCB on the backfoot. 

Moeen gives the breakthrough

MSD goes for spin from both ends and Moeen Ali gives him the breakthrough right through. He got the turn and bounce with an off spinner, which cramped up Faf a bit as he tries to heave it to the on side and Jadeja completes a simple catch at mid-wicket. 

Handy Powerplay

The move to have Kohli join Faf at the top of the line-up is a prudent one, and the two most experienced batters have given them their best start in a while. They milked Mukesh Chowdhury for 18 runs in an over as RCB are 57/0 after Powerplay and look good to build on this.

Kohli looks assured

Kohli, Faf are off to a sedate start. It's good to see Mukesh Chowdhury, the CSK seamer, growing in confidence with each match. He is pitching it up to Kohli but the master batter not yet lured into his drives - it's 20/0 after 3 overs.

CSK opt to field

Welcome to Match No.49 of the season. It's the South Indian derby where MSD wins the toss and elect to bowl against Bangalore. Moen Ali is coming in place of Mitchell Santner for CSK while RCB are fielding an unchanged team. 

Kolkata: The hype around a clash between Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in IPL of previous years may be missing some of the fizz this time, but there is still plenty to look forward to when Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Chennai Super Kings in an important mid-table clash in the 49th game of the 2022 season this evening.

RCB, who had started off well despite the poor run of Kohli with the bat, slipped to three defeats in a row now - including the nightmarish outing when they were dismissed for 68. A piece of statistic sums up their batting plight - in 10 games so far, they have looged in only six half-centuries with two of them belonging to new captain Faf du Plessis while Kohli found his first one in the last game against Gujarat Titans, though his strike-rate of barely 100-plus came in for criticism and they ended up on the losing side.

‘Yellove,’ the four-time champions, have endured a poor campaign this year and are languishing in ninth position with three wins from nine outings. Their performance graph, however, took a U-turn in the last game with ‘MSD’ back at the helm again – allowing Ravindra Jadeja to express himself as a world class allrounder again.

Can they ride on their performance graph in the South India derby again? We will know soon…