Chennai, March 28 (IANS) Josh Hazlewood struck a couple of early blows after Rajat Patidar scored his first half-century as captain to help Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeat Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium after a gap of 17 years in Match 8 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 here on Friday.
RCB had defeated CSK at home in the inaugural edition in 2008 and since then suffered defeat every time they played the CSK den. On Friday, they came up with a fine all-round performance to beat CSK by 50 runs, handing the five-time champions their biggest defeat ever at Chepauk.
Patidar (51) capitalized on a couple of dropped chances when he was batting at 17 to hit some brilliant shots as he reached his half-century off 30 balls. He was out soon after and just when it looked like RCB would fall well short of the 200-run mark, Tim David hammered a hat-trick of sixes in the final over to pull them close to what looks like a par-score.
Most of the RCB batters got starts -- Phil Salt contributed 32 off 16 balls, Virat Kohli scored 31 off 30, Devdutt Padikkal struck 27 off 14 and Tim David remained unbeaten on 22 off eight balls in a fine cameo -- as RCB and CSK fought back each time the other was trying to take control of the proceedings.
Josh Hazlewood made the breakthrough for RCB in the second over by getting Rahul Tripathi (5) edge one behind to Salt, hitting the hard length, and extracting some bounce as Tripathi mistimed his pull shot.
One brought two for RCB as Hazlewood struck four balls later, getting CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (0) to sky one to deep fine leg.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal chipped in with wickets as Deepak Hooda (4), Sam Curran (8) and Rachin Ravindra (41 off 31) got out in quick succession as CSK slumped to 75/5 in the 12th over as the early wickets and scoreboard pressure thwarted Chennai. Ravindra had got a good start but could not capitalise on it as RCB bowlers kept a tight line and changed pace regularly on a pitch the ball was sticking a bit in the second innings.
Shivam Dube (19 off 15), Ravindra Jadeja (25 in 19), and Ravichandran Ashwin tried to hit out of trouble but failed. MS Dhoni blasted a couple of sixes in the final over as he remained unbeaten with 30 off 16 balls. In hitting his unbeaten 30, Dhoni became the top scorer for CSK in IPL with 4699 runs, going past Suresh Raina's 4687. This along with Dhoni's stumping of Phil Salt and Noor's three-wicket haul were the only positives for CSK in this match.
For RCB, Hazlewood bagged 3-21, Yash Dayal 2-18, and Liam Livingstone 2-28 bowled beautifully to hamper CSK's progress.
Earlier, asked to bat first, RCB made a brisk start thanks mainly to English opener Phil Salt who came out all guns blazing, hitting Khaleel Ahmed for back-to-back boundaries in the first over. He then pulled Ravichandran Ashwin over fine leg and followed that up with a cut through extra cover and another pull to the boundary for successive fours.
His belligerence ended when MS Dhoni effected a mesmerizing stumping off Noor Ahmad to end his knock for a 16-ball 32 studded with five boundaries and a six. Dhoni's lightning-quick work behind the stumps left the fans swooning in pleasure.
Padikkal and Kohli got out just when they were looking dangerous and it looked like Patidar too would depart early but was dropped by Deepak Hooda off Ravindra Jadeja in the deep. He got another life as Rahul Tripathi put one down off Noor Ahmed. He blasted a six and four off Jadeja and treated Pathirana for a six and Khaleel Ahmed for a four before he was caught by Sam Curran off Pathirana.
RCB lost Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, and Krunal Pandya in search of quick runs before Tim David gave them the boost with his last-over heroics, hitting Sam Curran for a hat-trick of sixes.
For CSK, Noor Ahmad was on the ball once again, adding 3-36 to the 4-18 he claimed against Mumbai Indians in their opening match. Matheesha Pathirana claimed two wickets in one over in the brilliant effort in the death overs.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 196/7 in 20 overs (Rajat Patidar 51, Phil Salt 32, Tim David 22 not out; Noor Ahmad 3-36, Matheesha Pathirana 2-36) beat Chennai Super Kings 146/8 in 20 overs (Rachin Ravindra 41, MS Dhoni 30 not out; Josh Hazlewood 3-21, Yash Dayal 2-18, Liam Livingstone 2-28) by 50 runs.
