Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) managed a narrow 2-run win against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Saturday, May 3 to get to 16 points in the season.
In the process, they have inched closer to the IPL 2025 playoffs. With this win, they became the first team to get to 16 points in IPL 2025. As a side, their bowling and batting depth was displayed in this match.
Chennai Super Kings got a brilliant start in the 214 chase from their openers Ayush Mhatre (94 runs from 48 balls) and Shaik Rasheed (14 off 11 balls). They added 51 runs inside the first five overs. Mhatre was the aggressor in the partnership as he played a few lovely shots.
Ayush Mhatre Scored A Fifty Against RCB
After Mhatre gave the team a good start at the top, he was joined by Ravindra Jadeja (77* runs off 45 balls). The duo added a 114-run stand that brought the Super Kings back into the game.
Mhatre's dismissal in the 17th over, turned the game around for CSK. He was dismissed by Lungi Ngidi who took three wickets for 36 runs in his spell. After Mhatre he also dismissed Dewald Brevis for a duck in back-to-back deliveries to further peg back CSK in the chase.
MS Dhoni walked out to bat in the 17th over after the fall of two quick wickets but failed to do the job for his side. He was struggling to time the ball as he scored 12 runs off 8 balls.
In between, Ngidi bowled a brilliant 17th over as he took two wickets. His good over was followed by another good over of just six runs by Suyash Sharma (43 runs in 4 overs)in the 18th over.
CSK needed 29 runs off the last two overs with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (55 runs in 4 overs) leaking 14 runs in the 19th over. Yash Dayal (41 runs in 4 overs) was then tasked with the 20th over and he had to defend 15 runs off the final over.
He dismissed Dhoni in the 20th over and despite bowling a no-ball which was the fourth delivery of the over against Shivam Dube (8* runs off 3 balls) ended up defending six runs off three balls which eventually came down to four runs off one ball.
Yash Dayal Dismisses MS Dhoni, Defends 15
He kept a cool head and bowled a full delivery to Jadeja who could only hit it to cover as they ran two off the last ball. CSK eventually fell short by two runs and RCB saved themselves a scare. RCB did not have a good day on the field as they missed a few catches but rode their luck in the final few ovesr to get a narrow win.
With this win, RCB are back at the top of the IPL 2025 points table with 16 points from 11 games. They almost have their foot in the playoffs. They now have three games remaining and play their last two games at home where they have won two games so far.
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