IPL 2022: Until the first powerplay, the scores were nearly identical. Bangalore Royal Challengers were 57/0 while Chennai Super Kings were 51/0. Within the first ten overs, both teams had lost three wickets. CSK still required 52 from 24 balls after dismissing half the side in the 16th over. MS Dhoni enters the fray. Dhoni was no stranger to this equation when he was captain, and he knew how to solve it. Josh Hazlewood, on the other hand, tightened the screws with a five-run over.
Moeen Ali had no choice but to fling his bat at everything now that he needed 47 from 18. However, he went with a slower ball from Harshal Patel. If Ali had left the ball alone, it would have been wide, but he put a toe to it, and the ball ballooned to Mohammed Siraj at extra cover. CSK required 39 runs from 12 overs at the end of the 18th over. Dhoni holed out to Rajat Patidar at deep midwicket after pulling a length ball from Hazlewood but was unable to achieve the elevation.
RCB achieved a 13-run victory to climb to fourth place in the table with 12 points from 11 games, allowing them to breathe a sigh of relief. CSK are now in ninth place with six points and is all but out of playoff contention.
In all fairness, CSK shouldn’t have blown this pursuit after getting off to such a good start. Devon Conway was magnificent in the field, driving, sweeping, and clearing his front leg for inside-out shots that kept CSK ahead of the game until the seventh over. With the exception of Ali, no top-order or middle-order hitter received a score of even ten. That was bound to be painful. RCB were in a similar situation, but Mahipal Lomror hit 42 off 27 balls, adding 44 for the fourth wicket with Rajat Patidar and 32 for the fifth wicket with Dinesh Karthik to turn the game around in 10 overs.
RCB had been looking down and out until that initial alliance flourished. Kohli’s removal often throws a monkey wrench into the best-laid plans, but this time he had already eaten 32 balls and scored only 30, giving RCB little time to recover. Ali delivering a pitch that pitched and twisted, tempting Kohli into a flick, was almost Test-like. Kohli, on the other hand, failed to recognise the pitch, and the ball spun almost square—replays indicated by seven degrees—to hit the middle and leg. Faf du Plessis had been caught by a long-hop, with the RCB captain failing to clear deep midwicket. Before Kohli fell, Glenn Maxwell was also run out, giving RCB’s Indian newcomers a difficult assignment.
For live cricket news, IPL 2022, cricket match updates, latest cricket news, live cricket score, all cricket live score, current cricket score, test cricket score and other cricket news follow livematchupdatesnews.com.
