Chennai: Harbhajan Singh (3/20) rolled back years to show the relevance of a finger spinner in shorter formats as defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by seven wickets in the opening encounter of 12th edition of the IPL here Saturday.
On a tricky pitch that assisted slow bowlers, RCB were shot out for 70 in 17.1 overs, a target that CSK achieved in 17.4 overs. RCB in defeat maintained their inglorious record against CSK and also had the ignominy of ending with the sixth lowest total in the league.
Harbhajan dismissed rival skipper Virat Kohli (6) in the fourth over of the game and from then on RCB were always struggling. He also picked up the wickets of Moeen Ali (9) and AB de Villiers (9).
Dhoni’s reading of pitch was immaculate as a top score of 29 (35b 2×4) from Parthiv Patel was a testimony to that and the time that CSK needed to score the runs.
After Harbhajan had done the initial damage Imran Tahir (3/9) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/15) delivered the coup de grace.
Having gauged the pace of the pitch, Harbhajan altered the length of his deliveries effectively. He was lucky to get Kohli’s wicket though as the India skipper pulled a short ball straight down Jadeja’s throat at the mid-wicket boundary.
Ali slog swept Harbhajan for a six but that was all that he could manage with a length delivery stopping on him as he tried to check his drive and the loopy return catch was gleefully accepted. De Villiers wanted to hit out of trouble. He was first dropped by Tahir and off the very next ball was caught by Jadeja at mid-wicket. With Shimron Hetmyer (0) getting run-out needlessly, RCB were in the dumps even before halfway stage.
The pitch wasn’t an easy one to bat on but 70 was too small a total to defend for RCB even though they stretched CSK for nearly 18 overs. Suresh Raina (19) didn’t score much but he did complete 5,000 runs in IPL when he reached 14. An IPL ‘legend’, Raina is the first player in tournament’s history to achieve the feat. Ambati Rayudu (28) was the top scorer for CSK as they chased down the paltry victory target.
Brief scores: RCB 70 in 17.1 overs (Parthiv Patel 29, Imran Tahir 3/9, Harbhajan Singh 3/20, Ravindra Jadeja 2/15) lost to CSK 71 for 3 in 17.4 overs (Ambati Rayudu 28) by seven wickets.
PTI