CSK vs RCB: Sensational Dwayne Bravo gives CSK win in low-scorer against RCB

Chasing 149, Bangalore were sitting pretty at 97 for 3 in the 14th over. Virat Kohli was on 48, Dinesh Karthik on 23 and they had added 63 runs in less than nine overs when it happened. Bravo produced a yorker which was squeezed out by Kohli to right of the bowler. Bravo skipped across in a flash, swooped on the ball and fired in a powerful throw at the striker’s end. A stunned Kohli tried to scramble back and even put in a dive but was left stranded. It was the beginning of the collapse.

Match-turning spell

Long before the current crop of Indian bowlers started to use the short ball so well as seen in the recently concluded world cup, it was Ashish Nehra who used to be the consistent and intelligent user of the short ball. Sometimes he surprises the batsman, sometimes they fail to control the impulse to pull and hole out. Dinesh Karthik fell in the latter category. It was just a ball after Kohli had fallen and Nehra started his new spell with a bouncer and off went Karthik for the pull. But he found the man at deep square-leg and Bangalore had started to wobble.

Ashish Nehra returned figures of 3/19 to hold on to the purple cap with 17 wickets in 10 games. (Source: BCCI)

Nehra wasn’t done yet. Bangalore needed just 41 from the final four overs when Nehra started to strangle the batsmen with his exemplary control. The young Sarfraz, who was moving around the crease, got some dollops of experience. A bouncer surprised him and he couldn’t even attempt a shot and a full delivery could be only tapped to cover. Under pressure, Sarfraz tried to back away but Nehra pinged his pad with a back-of-length delivery which was flicked straight to backward square-leg fielder. Off the last ball of the over, Nehra hurled across a yorker outside off and new batsman Harshal Patel tried to jam it down – the bat hit the ground but the umpire thought there was an edge and ruled him out. Nehra, who had given 13 runs in the first two overs, ended with three wickets for 18 runs by the end of his full quota. In a space of two overs, he had turned the game around.

Responsible Raina

Usually known for his aggression, Raina adapted his game to the tricky pitch and to the match situation – he walked in at the end of the first over at the loss of Dwayne Smith and soon lost Brendon McCullum as well- to come up with a fine fifty. Luckily, he didn’t have face much of Mitchell Starc initially and he started to blossom against the slower bowlers. His shot selection was good – he went after Yuzvendra Chahal, Iqbal Abdulla.

He had started with a punch over mid-on off David Weise and a caressed cover boundary against Harshal Patel. Abdulla was smashed to the straight boundary and inside-out to the cover boundary, and Chahal was swung for a six over wide long-on. He fell in the 15th over, lbw to Patel and it hurt Chennai but the bowlers ensured his knock didn’t go in vain.