IPL 2018, RCB vs CSK: Dhoni, Rayudu guide visitors to 5-wicket win

Bengaluru: Ambati Rayudu (82) and MS Dhoni (70) guided Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to an inspirational 5-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Wednesday.

Having set up a target of 206, the visitors lost Watson early.

A 42-run partnership between Rayudu and Suresh Raina was not enough as they lost the latter, along with Sm Billings and Ravindra Jadeja.

However, it was a 101-run partnership between the two star batsmen that guided the visitors closer to a win.

Just when the Men in Yellow were looking on course for a win, however, Rayudu was run-out by Umesh Yadav, giving some hopes for the hosts.

However, the visitors bounced back as a vintage Dhoni put up a 32-run stand with Dwayne Bravo to take the visitors home.

CSK 175-5 from 17.5 overs

WICKET! Ambati Raudu departs for 82 as CSK's run chase takes a huge hit! He was looking all set to take the visitors home, but a run-out was what cost Rayudu's wicket.

CSK 126-4 from 14 overs

FIFTY! Ambati Rayudu has got to yet another fifty in IPL 2018. The duo of Rayudu and Dhoni seems to be unstoppable as the partnership has already crossed 50.

CSK 59-3 from 6.3 overs

WICKET! Sam Billings has been stumped by Quinton de Kock as Yuzvendra Chahal joins the party.

CSK 50-2 from 5.1 overs

WICKET! CSK raced their way to 50, but they have lost Suresh Raina right after that.

CSK 8-1 after 1 over

WICKET! Pawan Negi has struck early as he removes Shane Watson.

RCB innings

AB de Villiers (68) and Quinton de Kock (53) guided Royal Challengers Bangalore to 205-8 in their Indian Premier League match against Chennai Super Kings here on Wednesday.

RCB lost Virat Kohli early, but bounced back in style as the South African duo put on a 103-run stand for the second wicket.

However, the visitors bounced right back into the game as Dwayne Bravo removed Quinton de Kock for 53.

However, the big moment came for CSK when Imran Tahir saw off de Villiers and Corey Anderson in the last two balls of the 15^th over.

Matters went from bad to worse as the hosts lost three consecutive wickets in the final over – as Colin de Grandhomme, Pawan Negi and Umesh Yadav departed.

From 87-1 at the halfway stage to a gradual collapse despite some strong comeback, RCB will hope to defend this total when CSK come out to bat in the run chase.

RCB 142-4 from 15 overs

WHAT A COMEBACK! CSK have come right back into the game as Imran Tahir removed AB de Villiers (68) and Corey Anderson (2) in the last two balls of the 15th over.

RCB 138-2 from 13.1 overs

WICKET! Quinton de Kock has been dismissed by Dwayne Bravo as the latter finally gives CSK the breakthrough.

RCB 124-1 from 12.1 overs

FIFTY! It was Quinton de Kock at the end of last over who brought up his fifty, and it is de Villiers now who gets to the same landmark! This is a top-class stuff from the South African duo.

RCB 35-1 from 4.2 overs

WICKET! There is a loud roar from the fans as Shardul Thakur removes captain Virat Kohli for 18 runs.This is not the start that RCB wanted.

Toss update

CSK won the toss in their IPL match against RCB on Wednesday, and elected to field.

Both teams made a couple of changes . For RCB, Pawan Negi and Colin de Grandhomme replaced Manan Vohra and Chris Woakes respectively.

Meanwhile, for CSK, Harbhajan Singh and Imran Tahir have come in for Karn Sharma and Imran Tahir respectively. Here is how the teams lineup:

Preview

The much-awaited South Indian derby between Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is all set to resume as they lock horns in the 24^th Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Wednesday.

The atmosphere at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium is all set to be electric once again as two captains who know each other very well go head-to-head.

This will be for the first time that the two teams face each other since May 22, 2015 as CSK were banned from the 2016 and 2017 editions due to spot-fixing.

CSK won that match by three wickets at Ranchi, which was a Qualifier 2 match, and went onto face Mumbai Indians in the final.

Not surprisingly, a dominant CSK holds a 13-7 head-to-head record over RCB in the overall matches.

This will be a landmark encounter for Virat Kohli as the clash will be his 100^th match as captain in T20 cricket.

RCB completed a morale-boosting win in their previous match against Delhi Daredevils (DD), thanks to a 39-ball-90 from AB de Villiers. The Bengaluru franchise will hope to continue their good show, despite a dominant CSK team.

Meanwhile, CSK are coming fresh from their thrilling four-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Hyderabad.

Having said that, RCB will have to be wary of CSK ahead of this match, who stunned Mumbai Indians (MI) by one wicket in a thriller in the first match of IPL 2018.

Squads:

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Virat Kohli(captain), AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Brendon McCullum, Chris Woakes, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Quinton de Kock, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Manan Vohra, Kulwant Khejroliya, Aniket Choudhary, Navdeep Saini , Mandeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Siraj, Parthiv Patel, Aniruddha Joshi, Pavan Deshpande, Tim Southee, Corey Anderson, Murugan Ashwin.

Chennai Super Kings:

MS Dhoni(captain), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Faf du Plessis, Harbhajan Singh, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar, , Kanishk Seth, Lungi Ngidi, Dhruv Shorey, Murali Vijay, Sam Billings, Kshitiz Sharma, Monu Kumar, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Shardul Thakur, N Jagadeesan, David Willey, Mark Wood, KM Asif.

When is the match?

The match is scheduled to start at 8 P.M. IST on Wednesday (April 25).

Where is the match?

The match will take place at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.

Live telecast and timings:

With Star India now acquiring the media rights from Sony Pictures Network India for the upcoming season, the matches will be telecast on various Star Sports channels.

Live streaming:

The matches can be viewed live on Hotstar.com or on the Hotstar app.