Bravo shines as Chennai beat Bangalore to go on top

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

Dwayne Bravo claimed 3-24 to help Chennai Super Kings (CSK) set up a six-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their IPL match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday.

Bravo claimed a second three-wicket haul in the consecutive matches which tied down Bangalore to set up a simple chase for in-form Chennai.

After restricting Bangalore to 156/6, Chennai chased down the target for the loss of four wickets with 11 balls remaining.


Bravo broke the century stand between Virat Kohli and Devdutt Paddikal to give Chennai first breakthrough.

Bravo got Maxwell caught by Jadeja before getting rid of Harshal Patel, who holed out to Raina, after Chahar had dismissed Tim David.

Meanwhile, Chennai were untroubled in their chase for the first eight overs as the openers Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad set the tone for a successful chase.

The opening duo of Chennai added 71 runs for the first wicket in just eight overs. Gaikwad was in sublime touch and seemed to pick it up whence he left in the last match.

Chahal gave Bangalore the first breakthrough. Kohli took a stunner off Chahal to get rid of Gaikwad. In the next over, du Plessis was caught by Saini off Maxwell as Chennai were reduced to 71-2.

Moeen Ali and Ambati Rayudu added 47 runs for the third wicket to take the score past 100 before Harshal Patel sent the former back to the pavilion to break the dangerous-looking partnership.

De Villiers took a reflex catch at the midwicket to give Harshal his first scalp of the match. His dismissal brought MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina on the crease together with another 24 runs needed.

Both made sure there are no more hiccups and shared an unbroken stand to take Chennai home.

Earlier, Kohli and Paddikal gave Bangalore a blistering start with blazing knocks. The opening duo of Bangalore dominated the Chennai bowling attack, which did not seem to mount any pressure.

The openers shared a century partnership for the first  wicket to lay down a solid foundation for a huge total, which was not to be so.  

The Bangalore openers were in the cruise control as they plundered the Chennai bowlers at their will all over the ground.

Kohli and Paddikal brought up the fifty-run partnership in the sxith over when Kohli drove Hazelwood for a boundary.

Kohli was playing like a youngster, who has a point to prove. He was the more brutal of the two. Dhoni tried all his options but failed to break the partnership.

They kept the scoreboard ticking with singles and doubles, hitting occasional boundaries to maintain a healthy run rate.

It was Paddikal, who brought up his fifty first. He reached his second half-century of the season with a boundary off Jadeja in 12th over.

Kohli also raced to his fifty with a boundary off Jadeja. After reaching his second fifty of the tournament, Kohli started to cut loose. Bangalore looked to breach 200-run mark.

But Bangalore failed to capitalise on the good start and threw away their wickets to reckless shots.

Bravo dismissed Kohli to break the partnership. He had Kohli caught at the deep midwicket as Jadeja made no mistake and completed a clean catch running to his right.

Padikkal and AB de Villiers added 30 runs for the second wicket and took the score to 140/2. Paddikal kept on going, hitting Hazelwood for a six.

De Villiers was caught by Raina in the cover when he miscued a slog shot off Thakur after hitting him for a six two ball earlier.

Paddikal was the next to go as he tried to slice the ball to the thirdman but it ended in a simple catch for Rayudu.

Thakur, who was wicketless till the fourth ball of his last over got two wickets in his last two deliveries, courtesy reckless shots by Bangalore batsmen.

However, in the record books, those two dismissals will reflect against his name irrespective of the situation and he is on hat-trick when he resumes bowling in his next match.

Padikkal’s 50-ball 70 was peppered with five boundaries and three sixes. His dismissal opened the flood gates and Bangalore kept losing the wickets in bulk.

They lost four wickets for six runs to be reduced to 154/6 from 150/2. Chennai pulled it back and restricted them to a chaseable total.