CHENNAI: When Royal Challengers Bengaluru landed in the city a few days ago, they were seeking to put a stop to an unwanted record. The last time they had beaten Chennai Super Kings at Chennai was in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League in 2008. Since then, the franchise had gone zero out of eight.
After a confident start at the home of the defending champions in the opener last Saturday, would they be able to go two-in-two? They had all the incentive they needed — beating two of the traditional superpowers to start the season would set them up for the season ahead.
That's exactly what they did as they handed Ruturaj Gaikwad & Co a humbling. Chasing an above-par 197, the hosts batters wilted under MA Chidambaram lights and finished with a score of 146/8, a damaging loss from a Net Run Rate perspective even if it's too early in the season.
Opting to bowl first, Chennai allowed Phil Salt, the designated powerplay hitter, to get off to a rapid start with as many as four boundaries within the first 10 balls. Chennai gave R Ashwin the new ball but the Englishman took him down for 15 runs in a pre-planned assault. By the time he was dismissed by Noor Ahmad, the pick of the bowlers who captured three wickets, the visitors had already made 45 in the first five overs.
Even as Virat Kohli was struggling for timing, placement and momentum, all of the other batters found their range. The innings of Rajat Patidar and Tim David made all the difference in the end as they pushed towards 200 on what was a tricky surface.
One reason why RCB made the playoffs last year was Patidar's ability to force the play through the middle-phase. He displayed the same nous here as well as he took on Ahmad, Matheesha Pathirana and Ravindra Jadeja across a six-over spell post the powerplay.
Jitesh Sharma and David provided the finishing kick, especially the latter with three big sixes off Sam Curran in the 20th over.
For the hosts, all of them travelled the distance. The hosts' bowlers crave control but control is something they never really had all night as the batters kept coming after them. Wickets did fall at regular intervals but the high boundary count ensured that the fielding team were never really afforded a moment of comfort (15x4 and 12x6; 132 off their 196 runs came off boundaries).
The hosts needed a big opening stand. What they didn't need was losing two wickets — Rahul Tripathi and Gaikwad — to Josh Hazlewood in the second over. Deepak Hooda and Curran came and went in quick succession. Rachin Ravindra, who had played solidly in their win over Mumbai Indians in the opener, waged a lone battle but his innings was going nowhere on a surface not conducive for big-hitting.
With the squeeze well and truly on, Yash Dayal, who is making a name for himself with his variations and subtle changes of paces, induced an edge which found the stumps. The crowd, stunned into silence by now, were about to be shocked again as Shivam Dube, last of the recognised batters, was dismissed in a not too dissimilar fashion.
While this is still early doors, the franchise may have to look at their squad composition, especially their batters. Tripathi, Hooda and Curran, two Indian specialist batters and an overseas all-rounder, occupy prime real estate but they can ill-afford more no shows like Friday night.
Brief scores: Bengaluru 196/7 in 20 ovs (Salt 32, Kohli 31, Padikkal 27, Patidar 51, Noor 3/36, Pathirana 2/36) bt Chennai 146/8 in 20 ovs (Ravindra 41, Jadeja 25, Hazlewood 3/21, Dayal 2/30).
