Chennai Super Kings put up a dominant show on Friday to ease past Royal Challengers Bangalore by 6 wickets. The writing was on the wall since the batting collapse of RCB towards the end of first innings. Bangalore, who were at 111/0 after 13.1 overs, lost the wicket of the skipper Virat Kohli first and it just opened the floodgates and CSK found enough space to do the damage.
The innings of RCB, which for once was looking to go beyond 200-run mark, settled for mere 156/6 and the credit of it goes to the bowlers of CSK who bowled tight lines to keep the flow of runs in check. As a result, the RCB batters tried to do too much and ended up spoiling the good start provided by Kohli and Padikkal. While Kohli scored 53 off 41, the southpaw scored 70 off 50. Dwayne Bravo was the wrecker-in-chief with figures of 3/24, while Shardul Thakur was also impressive with his 2/29.
Chasing a small target, CSK got off to a blazing start as Ruturaj Gaikwad (38 off 26) and Faf du Plessis added 71 runs for the first wicket in 8.1 overs. However, the Dhoni-led side made sure it didn't make the same mistake as done by their opponent. CSK smoothly went past the finishing line to topple Delhi Capitals at the top spot in the points table. Meanwhile, RCB retained their 3rd spot in the points tally despite the loss.
While many praised CSK and MS Dhoni for the dominant show at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, others took sly dig at Virat Kohli and company as this was their third loss on the trot in IPL 2021.