Images from the IPL 2025 match between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
Skipper Rajat Patidar's fortuitous fifty received excellent support from an unerring set of bowlers as Royal Challengers Bengaluru snapped a 17-year winless streak at Chepauk with a huge 50-run win over Chennai Super Kings on Friday.
Having fought their way to a competitive 196/7, RCB applied the perfect squeeze on CSK with early strikes and the five-time winners crumbled without any resistance, making 146/8.
CSK's defeat to RCB at home was their first since the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008. This is also their biggest lose in a home game.
The value of the victory could have gauged from the wide smile on the face of old warhorse Virat Kohli, the only one man in this RCB line-up who was part of that distant 2008 victory.
RCB's win came courtesy a heady mix of orthodox game of giving it all with the bat and stifling the opposition with regular wickets. But the Royal Challengers also had to thank CSK's shocking lack of gumption as the home side never landed a punch in reply.
CSK never recovered from a poor start which saw them losing skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (0) among three wickets inside the first two overs.
The slide began in the second over when Rahul Tripathi (5) lobbed an easy catch to short midwicket off Josh Hazlewood (3/21) while attempting a pull.
Hazlewood dealt a body blow to CSK on the final ball when he had in-form Gaikwad caught at deep square leg for a four-ball duck, off a top edge which flew high in the air.
CSK slipped to 8/3 soon when Deepak Hooda edged one behind off Bhuvneshwar Kumar while looking to guide the ball to third man, which left the five-time champions in deep trouble.
Rachin Ravindra (41) and Sam Curran (8) did well to arrest the slump but in bargain they could not whittle down the asking rate, which swelled to 13 runs an over.
In the ninth over, Curran went after Liam Livingstone (4-0-28-2) but was caught at long on by Krunal Pandya and it was evident at this point that CSK were staring at a heavy loss.
The regular fall of wickets never really allowed Ravindra to take the aggressive route, and his resistance ended in the 13th over when he chopped Yash Dayal onto his stumps (2/18).
Dayal reaped further benefits of the mounting pressure when he had Shivam Dube (19) playing one onto the stumps.
CSK sent in Ravichandern Ashwin at No 8, and not MS Dhoni, which suggested that CSK had given up the fight with 116 to get with seven overs in hand.
Dayal's twin strikes in the 13th over harmed CSK as much as RCB's Impact Sub Suyash Sharma, who bowled a quiet spell to tie down the opposition batters.
Dhoni struck three fours and two sixes to make 30 not out off 16 balls to go past Suresh Raina as CSK's highest run-scorer in IPL history, but that was only a minor consolation point.
Earlier, skipper Rajat Patidar rode on his luck to make a vital 51 and along with Tim David (8-ball 22) lifted RCB to 196/7 after being sent in to bat first.
Patidar was dropped thrice by CSK fielders but he made most of the reprieves to score 51 off 32 balls (4x4s, 3x6s), providing his side a much-needed impetus in the middle-overs, while David's late burst made up for a mid-phase slump.
Early fireworks form Phil Salt (32 off 16 balls, 5x4s, 1x6s) and Devdutt Padikkal (27 off 14 balls, 2x4s, 2x6s) had masked Virat Kohli's (31 off 30 balls) struggle but their dismissals left RCB in doldrums.
Despite aggressive knocks from Salt and Padikkal, RCB appeared to be struggling for momentum as Kohli's failure to accelerate — he had crawled to 14 off 20 balls by the ninth over — troubled the visiting side.
However, an eventful 11th over of the innings saw Kohli and RCB getting some sort of move-on after the India batter was hit flush on the helmet by a lifter from Matheesha Pathirana (2/36).
Kohli attempted a pull but was beaten by the pace and the skiddy nature of the surface. He looked a bit surprised, but responded with a pulled six and a loft over midwicket for a four.
In the next over, RCB had luck favouring them when Deepak Hooda spilled a regulation catch at long-on off Ravindra Jadeja to give a reprieve to Patidar.
He got another lifeline when Rahul Tripathi failed to grab a tough chance for which he had to move several paces forward at deep cover off left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad.
Amid all this, the Afghan spinner got the bigger prize in the form of Kohli's wicket, getting the struggling RCB batter caught at deep midwicket.
Patidar got another lifeline when an outside edge off Noor was spilled by Khaleel Ahmed as he reacted a tad late at short third man, but from there on the RCB skipper took charge.
The right-handed Patidar thereon connected well to make the biggest impact with the bat in RCB's innings.
However, a late slump saw RCB lose their way again with all-rounders Liam Livingstone (12) and Krunal Pandya (0) falling in quick succession.
But David (22 not out off 8 balls, 1x4s, 3x6s) smacked three sixes on the trot in the final over bowled by Sam Curran to give his side a boost.
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