(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Chennai Super Kings rode on knocks from Ambati Rayudu and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to overhaul Royal Challengers Bangalore's mammoth total of 205 to win by five wickets and two balls to spare in the Indian Premier League match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday.
Rayudu blasted 82 from 53 balls with three fours and eight sixes, while Dhoni played a flamboyant unbeaten 70 from 34 balls with a four and seven sixes. Dwayne Bravo too remained unbeaten on 14 from seven balls with a four and a six to take CSK to the top of the IPL standings while RCB are third from bottom.
Earlier, put into bat by MS Dhoni, RCB rode on De Kock's 53 (37 balls; 4x1, 6x4) and de Villiers' 68 (30 balls; 4x2, 6x8) to pile up 205 for 8. Both were involved in a 103-run second wicket.
RCB had 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 for 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 RCB 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 RCB from crossing the 200-run mark.
Scoreboard
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Q de Kock c & b Bravo 53
V Kohli c Jadeja b Thakur 18
AB de Villiers c Billings b Imran Tahir 68
C Anderson c Harbhajan b Imran Tahir 2
Mandeep Singh c Jadeja b Thakur 32
C de Grandhomme run out (Dhoni) 11
P Negi run out (Jadeja/Dhoni) 0
Washington Sundar not out 13
U Yadav c Billings b Bravo 0
M Siraj not out 0
Extras: (b 4, w 4) 8
Total: (8 wickets, 20 overs) 205
Did not bat: YS Chahal
Fall: 1-35, 2-138, 3-142, 4-142, 5-191, 6-191, 7-192, 8-193.
Bowling: Chahar 2-0-20-0, Thakur 4-1-46-2 (2w), Harbhajan Singh 2-0-24-0, R Jadeja 2-0-22-0, Watson 2-0-21-0 (1w), Imran Tahir 4-0-35-2, D Bravo 4-1-33-2 (1w)
Chennai Super Kings
S Watson c Siraj b Negi 7
A Rayudu run out (Yadav) 82
S Raina c Mandeep b Yadav 11
S Billings st de Kock b Chahal 9
R Jadeja b Chahal 3
MS Dhoni not out 70
D Bravo not out 14
Extras: (lb 2, nb 1, w 8) 11
Total: (5 wkts, 19.4 Overs) 207
Fall: 1-8, 2-50, 3-59, 4-74, 5-175
Bowling: P Negi 3-0-36-1; U Yadav 4-0-23-1; W Sundar 1-0-14-0; M Siraj 4-0-48-0; Y Chahal 4-0-26-2; C Anderson 3.4-0-58-0
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