IPL 2018: Match 24, RCB vs CSK- Who Said What

The contest between the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) panned out to be yet another heart-racing thriller and both teams strained every inch of their muscle to overpower each other. However, it was the might of the Super Kings which emerged triumphant by five wickets from a stage when they looked in all sorts of trouble.

RCB muscle away to competitive score

MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to field first. RCB started well with their openers in Quinton de Kock and Virat Kohli smashing the bowlers to all corners of the ground. However, Kohli was nipped out by Shardul Thakur. The wicket brought AB de Villiers to the crease and he made his intentions clear by peppering the boundaries with sheer ease.

He raced away to 68 runs off 30 balls in which he cleared the ropes as many as eight times. On the other hand, Quinton de Kock looked solid and accomplished a half-century as well. Thereafter the hosts lost quite a few wickets in a hurry and they could only score 205 runs. Mandeep Singh played some gorgeous strokes, which propelled the Challengers’ score beyond the 200-run mark.

Dhoni finishes it off in style

During their run chase, Chennai got off to the worst possible start as Shane Watson was dismissed by Pawan Negi in the very first over. Suresh Raina couldn’t survive for long either. Yuzvendra Chahal bowled beautifully and dismissed Sam Billings and Ravindra Jadeja with a couple of vicious leg-breaks. However, Chennai wasn’t ready to drop the gun as MS Dhoni joined Rayudu at the wicket.

The dup carved a magnificent century partnership, which took the sting out of the RCB bowlers. The duo went hammer and tongs and helped CSK chase down another steep target, which didn’t seem likely at the half-way mark when the required rate was greater than a run-a-ball. Dhoni looked at his stupendous best as the bowlers kept disappearing. CSK eventually bagged the game with a couple of balls to spare

Virat Kohli, the skipper of Royal Challengers Bangalore said

Many things that we can look at. The way we bowled is just not acceptable. Just not good enough on the day, 72/4 and giving away runs like that for just 1 wicket is criminal. Something that we need to address going forward because we haven’t bowled well. If we cannot defend even 200, it’s a problem somewhere. It hurts at the moment, very tough for us to swallow but great game for Chennai. (Whether RCB has better bench strength) You have to back the guys who are on the park and need to give them confidence to execute what they have to. They need to be clear in their plans and execute well.

We weren’t brave enough with the ball, somewhere there was that hesitation of the opposition overcoming them. Pitch has played really well, we are happy with that. Spin came as a factor, both for us and for them. But quality batting from both sides. (On Rayudu being another of the young batting talents) He is not young, has been around forever (smiles). Quality player and we all know that. Has done well in the IPL and domestic, also has done well for India too. Deserves the applause. I am happy for him. (On MSD) Nice to see him strike the ball well, not against us though. We wouldn’t have wanted that. He is in a good space, batting higher up and expressing himself.

MS Dhoni, the skipper of Chennai Super Kings and also the Man of the Match, said

“Shardul will get better. The more he is under the pump, the better he will get as the tournament progresses. It’s important to know what the overs that are left and who will bowl the death overs, who is their best bowler on that particular wicket and who you can take on. You may win or lose, but if you do the process right, you are on the right track. Not everybody knows what kind of a game is theirs and what really is their strength. I feel that’s what the job of finisher is.

You will score runs with the experience you have got, but if you can help the other batsman with what to play, run quicker between the wickets, tell what the bowler could do with his batting style etc. All these things really matter. It’s not just about me batting at the death. Sharing the experience with the youngsters or whoever is batting and helping them getting the score, because tomorrow I may not be batting with him or I may get out, he needs to do the job. Rayudu’s batting is very important for us, he keeps the scoreboard moving.”

“I thought when we had the innings break this was difficult to chase because when I was keeping, I felt AB batted well to get them to 200 runs and it was tough to score. I thought it was 15-20 beyond par score. The key for us was the two left-handers but we lost them early. Just had to hang around there. This is a small ground, ball travels and there was just a bit of dew and it worked in our favour. Rayudu batted really well. Got a very good partnership and then Bravo striking at the end, overall it went perfectly according to the script. Not exactly as we had planned, but still the script was good. This was a slightly slowish wicket and that’s why AB’s knock was special. It wasn’t an easy wicket, it was not a wicket where you could bat like that credit to him. Happy that people are chipping in for us and we are chasing down big totals and at the same time it is a good exposure for some of our death bowlers.”

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