Mumbai : Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 23 runs in their IPL match here on Tuesday.
Invited to bat, CSK posted a massive 216 for 4 with Shivam Dube (95 not out off 46 balls) and Robin Uthappa (88 off 50 balls) sharing 165 runs for the third wicket, the highest this season.
For RCB, Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva took two wickets while Josh Hazlewood got one.
Chasing the huge target, RCB were restricted to 193 for 9.
Shahbaz Ahmed top-scored for RCB with 41, while Dinesh Karthik and Suyash Prabhudessai chipped in with 34 each.
For CSK, Maheesh Theekshana took four wickets for 34 runs while Ravindra Jadeja got three.
Shivam Dube, Player of the Match said, ‘We were looking for the first win and I am really happy that I contributed for the team. It’s a honour for me. I am more focused this time and focusing on basics. I spoke to many seniors – Mahi bhai also helped me to improve the game. He said, ‘Just be focused, just be still, just let the skill work in the game.’ I wanted to time the ball really well. I tried to maintain by balance. Yuvi pa is always a role model for a left-hander. Many people told me that I bat like him. As the situation demands, as the captain and coach tell me, I am ready to bat anywhere.’
Ravindra Jadeja said, ‘First of all, this is the first victory as a captain ever. I would like to dedicate to my wife and also the team because first victory is always special. Previous four games, we couldn’t cross the line. But as a team, we came good. As a batting unit, everybody did a good job. Robbie and Shivam batted brilliantly. The bowlers contributed with the ball as well. Our management don’t put pressure on me, they are relaxed, they always come to me and motivate. As a captain, I am still picking brains of the senior players. Mahi bhai is there, I always go to him and discuss. Moulding into a new role, it’ll take time to get things going. I am still learning and trying to get better with each game. We have plenty of experience in our dressing room. Experience comes into play, we don’t panic early. We try to keep ourselves calm, we back ourselves and we look to play positive cricket. We’ll look to push hard, we’ve got the momentum, we’ll try and continue the momentum.’
Faf du Plessis, said, ‘First of all our 7-8 overs were good. Then 8-14 we tried to bring the spinners on and they played really well. Dube taking on the spinners, they took the momentum they carried from 8-14. That partnership speaks for itself. When you are chasing a big score you have to have a good start. One of the first four setting up the foundation, we didn’t have that tonight. Good bowling from Chennai, they used their spinners well on a pitch that had some grip. We lost momentum with wickets, but we came back well. That shows the depth in our batting. Just shows you when you play a match like tonight. You see the value he (Harshal) offers not just to this team but any team. He has got the ability to really stop the game. We missed that tonight. Even towards the end we lacked the variety.
Big miss for us, hopefully we will have him back soon again. Impressed by the way the guys coming in on a debut at 5 or 6 and playing like that just shows depth in our bowling. Even though we lost we were only 20 runs short on a total we should have been blown out of order and that is impressive.’
