The match on Thursday at the Chennai MA Chidambaram Stadium for the Indian Premier League (IPL) thirteenth match was a `poora paisa vasool for the fans. ‘Chennai Super Kings (CSK) takes on Bangalore’s Royal Challengers (RCB). The home team defeated the RCB in a classy style and the finish was nail biting till the last ball when the CSK scored a boundary to the ball by Vinay Kumar. R Jadeja made the mighty run which almost looked impossible. Such was the high tense situation in the Chennai stadium on Thursday. But none of the team’s fans were disappointed as an excellent match was played by both the teams. This match will go down the IPL history for exuberance at abundance.
Bangalore won the toss and elected to bat. The opening by Mayank Agarwal is worth a look, he contributed 45 runs. Virat played his classy style and added another 57 runs, while Chris Gayle pulled in sixty eight runs from his willow. On the bowling fronts for CSK, Bollinger grabbed two wickets while Morkel and Jadeja took two each. Tremendous batting performance really paid off for the RCB who pulled in the tournament’s highest total 205/8 in the scheduled twenty overs. But the Chennai also equally excelled and went on to make 208/5 in the same twenty overs to win over the visitors.
South African all-rounder Faf du Plesis was the top scorer with 71 while skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni made a valuable 24-ball 41. But what changed the match was the seven ball stay of Albie Morkel, who went on make 28 runs with 2x4 and 3x6. When Dhoni’s wicket fell in the eighteenth over the required score to win was 43 runs with just two overs remaining. The CSK fans were a little dampened at the mammoth task while the RCB fans were smelling victory. However, Morkel’s valiant willow effort snatched the opportunity from the RCB and gave advantage for his team. He made the impossible possible. Again hope kindled for the RCB in the last ball, but it was Jadeja this time who kept them at bay.
None of the teams faltered anyway!! No flaws but only entertainment was the order of the day at Chennai. Well the winners had emerged out of sheer display of entertainment all the way. A day that is to be remembered for some time now, as it is the highest chasing total that had brought laurels to the second batting team in the history of IPL say pundits.
