CHENNAI: About 20 months ago, when Chennai Super Kings played Royal Challengers Bengaluru in a must-win encounter at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in IPL 2024, something fundamentally changed between the two teams.
Till that fateful May evening, Chennai had won 21 of the 32 matches between the two teams. RCB's ten wins meant Super Kings had a more than 2:1 ratio in head-to-head. The rivalry between two of the three biggest brands and teams in the league, to a large extent, was only on paper and geography. Simply put, it was not even a competition. CSK dominated not just the rivalry but also the league. Till that date, Chennai had five titles and RCB none.
On May 18, 2024, it all changed. CSK went down to RCB by 27 runs and fell out of the play-off race while the latter was on a winning run to finish in top four. And that was just the beginning of something new. In the mega auction that followed, RCB put together the best side they could have in both batting and bowling. CSK, meanwhile, made signings that came back to cost them dearly. And it showed in the 2025 season. RCB won in Chennai for the first time in 18 years, they beat CSK again in Bengaluru before going on to win their first-ever IPL title.
Trade-offs and new signings were made in the hopes of changing all that ahead of the 2026 season, but three games later, the story remains the same. Royal Challengers Bengaluru, once again, proved to be too good for Chennai Super Kings. The result on Sunday meant, RCB have won their last four games against CSK, taking the head-to-head tally to 14-21.
And unlike the last time they played at this venue, where RCB won by two runs, Sunday was a complete domination from the defending champions. It started with the onslaught of Phil Salt's 46 off 30 balls. Virat Kohli did his bit (18-ball 28) including a delightful lofted six down the ground. But, the story of the night was about two young Indian batters who have upskilled themselves to own the stage and outperform their biggest star in Kohli — Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal. Padikkal came to the team as a much-improved player last year before getting injured. In the post-tournament celebrations, he was still there despite being replaced by Mayank Agarwal in the team. Come 2025, Padikkal has only become a better batter, someone who can strike at more than 200 from the word go. If the season opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad showed glimpses of it, on Sunday, Padikkal did it all again with a 29-ball 50. He first added 56 off 37 with Salt before putting up another 58 in just 21 balls with captain Patidar before eventually getting out.
Patidar, on the other hand, is an IPL-winning captain. Kohli may be the biggest star of the franchise, but the MP batter is the one who made the former Indian captain's eternal dream come true last year. While he flew under the radar in terms of individual contributions in 2025, Patidar has taken it upon himself to change it this time around. And it showed as the 32-year-old smashed CSK bowlers all over Chinnaswamy. He smashed an unbeaten 48 off 19 only to be overshadowed by a blinder of an innings from Tim David who survived a no ball wicket to crack an unbeaten 70 off 25 balls. One of the eight sixes David hit ended up in Cubbon Park, literally, as RCB finished with 250/3. The contest, midway through the game, was all but done. Rest was only a matter of time, especially with an inexperienced middle-order of CSK going up against a quality RCB bowling attack.
If there ever was an example of what a mega auction could do to the three-season cycle, RCB and CSK are it. The former have become a well-rounded team to beat while the latter, already in transition, have become a shadow of themselves. And the way back for Chennai is likely going to be a long and arduous one.
Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bengaluru 250/3 in 20 ovs (Tim David 79 n.o, Devdutt Padikkal 50, Rajat Patidar 48 n.o, Phil Salt 46) bt Chennai Super Kings 207 in 19.4 ovs (Sarfaraz 50, Prashant 43; Bhuvneshwar 3/41).[