Skipper's six helps Chennai beat Bangalore with two balls to spare; AB upstaged
Chennai's MS Dhoni in full flight against Bangalore at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore yesterday. Pic/PTI
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It was a sea of yellow in the packed-to-the-rafters Chinnaswamy Stadium here yesterday. And on the field too it was Men in Yellow who pulled off a thrilling five-wicket win with two balls to spare in the highly anticipated clash between the Southern neighbours Bangalore and Chennai.
If it was the audacious 53-ball 103-run second wicket association between opener Quinton de Kock (53, 37b, 1x4, 4x6) and his fellow South African AB de Villiers (68, 30b, 2x4, 8x6) that set up Bangalore's challenging 205 -8, Chennai found their heroes in Ambati Rayudu (82, 53b, 3x4, 8x6) and skipper MS Dhoni (70 not out, 34b, 1x4, 7x6), who fittingly finished the game with yet another massive six. Coming together at a testing 74-4 in nine overs, pacer Umesh Yadav and leggie Yuzvendra Chahal having struck twice each, the duo stayed together almost to the end, adding 101 from just 53 balls to dash the hopes of the home fans who outnumbered that of the visitors but not by much.
Chennai's Ambati Rayudu en route his 82 against Bangalore yesterday
Earlier, having been put into bat by Dhoni, Bangalore lost their own skipper Virat Kohli early but De Kock and De Villiers made light of Chennai's 3-pronged spin attack on a surface that afforded a lot of spin to ensure Bangalore got along nicely.
That said, the Bangalore innings was a very mixed one. Either they were going at 10 an over or blocking out maidens, wicket-maidens to boot. It was raining sixes off the bat but wickets were also tumbling.
Luckily for Bangalore in Mandeep Singh they found their death overs hero, the right-hander contributing a 17-ball 32 (1x4, 3x6) to ensure that the home side didn't waste the excellent show at the top by De Kock and De Villiers. Sixty three runs came in the last five overs to push Bangalore past 200. In the end it wasn't enough, not with Rayudu in the form he is or with Dhoni in the mood he was.
Also Read: Chennai die-hard fans travel to Pune in special train to support MS Dhoni and Co
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