IPL 2018: CSK's Jadeja, Harbhajan strangle RCB

PUNE: Up until Saturday, Chennai Super Kings' success had come predominantly on the back of the batsmen delivering match-winning performances. Heading into the business end of the league stage, their bowling finally came to the party. Led by Ravindra Jadeja (3-18) and Harbhajan Singh (2-22), CSK restricted a powerful Royal Challengers Bangalore batting unit to a score of 127/9 before notching up a six-wicket win.The pitch looked a lot drier than the previous days and the ball, too, was stopping a bit.
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The run chase was not without difficulty, but an ice-cool MS Dhoni (31 not out) and Dwayne Bravo (14 not out) kept their composure at the end to eventually seal victory.
For RCB, the loss means that they will have to win each of their remaining five matches to entertain hopes of qualifying for the playoffs.
Batting first, RCB had actually got off to a decent start, scoring 47/1 from the first six overs. Parthiv Patel, who came into the side for his first game this season in place of Manan Vohra, looked particularly keen to impress and did the bulk of the scoring early on.
As soon as the Powerplay got over, though, Dhoni introduced the spin duo of Jadeja and Harbhajan and changed the complexion of the game. Jadeja, in fact, struck off his very first ball, dismissing RCB skipper Virat Kohli for just 8. The India captain chose to attempt a late cut to a ball that came in with the arm and was too close to the body. He ended up missing it completely as the ball pegged his off-stump back to cut short his innings.
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If Kohli's dismissal was a big jolt to the RCB dugout, there was worse to follow. In the very next over, Harbhajan got the better of the talismanic AB de Villiers (1), who was returning to the side after missing the last two games. De Villiers got a little too cute for his own liking, attempting a reverse sweep to a ball that pitched on middle-stump and took some turn. He ended up missing it altogether, only for Dhoni to take the bails off in a flash and send the South African back. The wicket must have come as a big relief for Harbhajan, who had dropped Parthiv off his previous delivery on 38.
Jadeja and Harbhajan weren't done just yet. While the left-arm spinner went on to take the wickets of Parthiv for 53 and Mandeep Singh (7), Harbhajan was too good for M Ashwin (1). In the end, they took a total of five wickets from eight overs while conceding just 40 runs.
Kohli's boys were never really able to recover as they slumped to a disastrous 89/8 by the 16th over before a 26-ball 36 not out from Tim Southee took them to a reasonable total.
Chasing 128, CSK began sedately and notched up 26/1 in the first five overs with an Umesh Yadav yorker getting the better of Shane Watson. Ambati Rayudu, who once again returned to the opening slot, injected some momentum to their innings during the sixth over, hitting Southee for two fours and a six to get up to speed with the required run rate. From there on, they should have coasted along but three wickets in quick succession meant that it was up to Dhoni and Bravo to complete proceedings. Bravo enjoyed some fortune on the way as he was dropped twice on 0 and 1 by Parthiv Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal respectively.