IPL 2025: Rajat Patidar’s RCB demolish CSK, end Chepauk jinx after 17 years
Royal Challengers Bangalore notched up a rare victory against Chennai Super Kings on Friday, March 28, in the Indian Premier League.
RCB, under the leadership of Rajat Patidar, breached fortress Chepauk for the first time in 17 years. Playing on a humid evening in Chennai, RCB first posted a commanding total of 196/7 and then clinically defended it by restricting CSK to 146/8 in 20 overs. RCB dominated CSK with the ball throughout the chase, starting with a top-order collapse inside the powerplay and then never allowing CSK to cut loose throughout their innings.
Josh Hazlewood was the standout bowler, picking up 3 wickets for 21 runs in his 4 overs. He was well-supported by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who made his RCB debut with figures of 1/20, Yash Dayal in the middle overs (2/18), and Liam Livingstone (2/28).
CSK’s Bizarre Calls
CSK did not really get any momentum in their innings after their poor start. Rahul Tripathi, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and Deepak Hooda fell inside the first five overs of the match, setting the tone for the rest of innings.
Chennai took some bizarre calls throughout their chase on Friday. First they sent Sam Curran ahead of spin-specialist Shivam Dube, who made his return to the Indian based on just one skill – the ability to hit spin.
Curran stuttered against the slower balls through his 13-ball stay, eventually ending his innings at just 8 runs. The deliveries soaked by Gaikwad, Tripathi, Hooda and Curran – 29 in total in the first 9 overs, pushed CSK far behind the required run rate, which eventually became too much for the side.
When the team was losing wickets in a bunch between the 9th and the 12th over, it was puzzling to see CSK talisman MS Dhoni not coming out of the dugout. Even Ravichandran Ashwin came out to bat ahead of MS Dhoni, but as expected was not able to pull the hosts out of trouble.
Eventually, when Dhoni did come out to bat at No.9, the equation was way out of hand. Dhoni eventually cut loose in the final over of the innings, hitting Krunal Pandya for 16 runs in 6 balls. He remained unbeaten at 30* off 16 balls, in an innings which had no bearing on the game at all.
RCB Blow Hot and Cold, But Post 196
RCB’s batting was inconsistent throughout the innings. The opening pair of Phil Salt and Virat Kohli, who had torn apart Kolkata Knight Riders in the first match of the tournament, were unable to maintain the same tempo at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Salt was lucky early on, edging a couple of balls from Khaleel Ahmed that reached the boundary. He carried that momentum into the rest of his innings, scoring a rapid 32 off 16 balls before being stumped by MS Dhoni.
While Salt’s cameo kept RCB’s run rate high during the powerplay, things weren’t going as smoothly at the other end. Virat Kohli, who has recently made significant improvements against spin, struggled to get his timing right and had difficulty against both spin and pace.
Kohli was seen berating himself throughout his 30-ball stay for not timing the ball properly. In the latter half of his innings, Kohli was struck by a sharp bouncer from pacer Matheesha Pathirana. The former captain took his time to resettle and then responded by hitting the fast bowler for a four and a six, showing that while his timing wasn’t what it once was, his fighting spirit remained strong.
Kohli, however, couldn’t do much after that and was caught in the deep trying to take on Noor Ahmad in the 13th over.
While Kohli struggled, RCB managed to maintain their run rate, thanks to the emergence of Devdutt Padikkal and captain Rajat Patidar. Padikkal, given a new lease of life by Andy Flower at the franchise, struck a quickfire 27 off just 14 balls before falling to Ravichandran Ashwin.