Dhoni's masterclass not enough as RCB outplays CSK to earn 50 run victory
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Chennai: Royal Challengers Bengaluru humbled Chennai Super Kings at their home turf, registering a 50-run victory against their southern rivals at the IPL 2025 match here on Friday.
Chennai failed to put up a fight as their batsmen were racing back to the dressing room one after another, unable to withstand a relentless RCB bowling attack determined to settle for nothing less than a win. CSK's reply ended at 146/8 against RCB's score of 196/7.
Except for Rachin Ravindra and veterans MS Dhoni and Jadeja, none of the CSK batters stood up against the RCB bowlers. Josh Hazlewood started the attack, dismissing Rahul Tripathi in the second over. Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad was his next target, who was dismissed for a duck.
Shivam Dube joined Rachin at the crease and tried to build a partnership to raise the score. However, RCB bowlers were not willing to let the game slip away. Yash Dayal struck twice in the 12th over, dismissing both batsmen- Rachin for 41 and Dube for 19.
While fans were eagerly waiting for Dhoni to walk in, veteran players Rvindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin tried to put up a fight. After Ashwin was dismissed in the 15th over, Dhoni walked in and together with Jadeja, he tried to sail CSK to a better score.
Dhoni smashed back-to-back boundaries in the 19th over against Hazelwood in his ever-familiar style. In the final over, he entertained the fans with consecutive sixes and a boundary, but it wasn't enough to alleviate the weight of their defeat. Dhoni walked off the pitch with an unbeaten 30 runs, leaving the fans wondering why he came in so late at ninth in the batting order.
Earlier, called in to bat first, skipper Rajat Patidar's 51 runs helped RCB to score a descent total.
RCB were right on track until the last ball of the fourth over, when Dhoni produced a stunner to remove Phil Salt. A lightning-fast reaction from the former CSK skipper saw him whip off the bails, with Salt looking stunned. He was dismissed after scoring 32 runs.
Devdutt Padikkal added some quick runs to the total, smashing two sixes. However, a brilliant catch from CSK skipper Gaikwad saw him dismissed for 27 runs.
Virat Kohli and Patidar added 41 runs in the third wicket partnership, but the former Indian captain was caught by Rachin Ravindra off Noor Ahmed's delivery. Kohli was not looking happy as he walked off the ground after making 31 off 30 balls.
Patidar added valuable runs to the board with other batsmen leaving early. After his dismissal, Tim David quick-fired an unbeaten 22 runs off 8 balls to take the RCB score to 196.