dhoni seals win in style

Bengaluru fall to Mahi’s masterstroke as CSK complete 205 target chase

Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by five wickets in the Indian Premier League here on Wednesday night as CSK skipper MS Dhoni wrapped up an uphill chase of 205 runs in trademark style.

With five runs needed off three balls, Dhoni connected with a C Anderson delivery to send the ball flying into the stands to give CSK their fifth win of the season.

Earlier, Ambati Rayudu had caused enough trouble to RCB bowlers as he led from the front to knock a total of 82 off 53 before getting run out by Umesh Yadav after a C Anderson delivery.

For the hosts, South Africans AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock's struck breezy half centuries to power Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to a mammoth 205/8 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Wednesday.

India batsman Shreyas Iyer was announced as the new skipper at the franchise's press conference which was also attended by coach Ricky Ponting and team CEO Hemant Dua.

De Kock (53, 37 balls; 4x1, 6x4) played the perfect supporting role in the 103-run second wicket stand with de Villiers (68 off 30; 4x2, 6x8), who started from the word go to bring up his half century in just 23 deliveries.

Put in to bat, RCB got off to a decent 35-run start by skipper Virat Kohli (18) and de Kock before Shardul Thakur saw the back of the Indian captain, thanks to a smart catch by Ravindra Jadeja.

But the visitors wouldn't have imagined what was coming their way, as de Villiers started off by clobbering Harbhajan Singh for two consecutive sixes before launching left-arm spinner Jadeja to the skies.

Such was the dominance from the former Proteas skipper that the hosts raced to 87/1 midway into the innings, with both de Villiers and de Kock nearing their respective fifties.

Despite being overshadowed by his senior partner, the southpaw brought up his half century in style, tonking Shane Watson for a six over deep mid-wicket.

On the first ball of the very next over, de Villiers, who had earlier clobbered leg-spinner Imran Tahir for two massive sixes, took Thakur to the cleaners thrice consecutively to bring up his half century.

With both the Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen going hammer and tongs, CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni threw the ball to his West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, and the "Champion" responded in style by packing back de Kock with a smart catch off his own follow through.

Tahir then joined the party by bagging the prized scalp of de Villiers and new man Corey Anderson (2) in the very next over to restore parity into the match.

De Villiers miscued Tahir's tossed-up delivery pitched outside off-stump for Sam Billings to complete the formalities at deep cover.

Tahir immediately got rid of New Zealand's Anderson with a googly as Harbhajan Singh completed a brilliant catch at slip.

With the hosts comfortably placed at 142/4, Mandeep Singh (32 off 17; 4x1, 6x3) and Colin de Grandhomme (11) struck a few lusty blows towards the end, even as two run-outs and a wicket in the final over could not stop Royal Challengers Bangalore from crossing the 200-run mark.

Defending an emphatic target, RCB nullified Shane Watson in the first over. Rayudu however had different plans as he held on till the end of the 17th over before Dhoni carried on and won it for the visitors in style.