There were a few gasps of disappointment when he only got a single, but the huge gathering, full of energy, passion and verve, quickly put that aside to soak in the moment.
CSK’s Devon Conway celebrates his half-century against RCB in Bangalore yesterday. Pic/PTI
The most widely anticipated event of Monday night almost turned out to be a non-event, but the capacity crowd at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium was happy merely to have had the chance of Mahendra Singh Dhoni bat one more time, if only for one ball.
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The Chennai Super Kings skipper walked out with two deliveries left in his side’s innings to a glorious welcome of a sea of mobile flashlights from every part of the ground. There were a few gasps of disappointment when he only got a single, but the huge gathering, full of energy, passion and verve, quickly put that aside to soak in the moment.
Dhoni’s one-ball single was an anti-climactic end to an innings of bruising ball-bashing from start to finish after Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis put the opposition in on the best batting surface of the season thus far at this venue. Ruturaj Gaikwad missed out, giving Mohammed Siraj another Powerplay success, but that was as good as it got for the home side.
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With Devon Conway (83) leading the charge, CSK pulled away to 226-6, a huge total that will test RCB’s resolve and character. CSK had plenty of help from the RCB bowlers, who were significantly off the boil, but they also made their own luck with Conway in supreme control, and Ajinkya Rahane and the powerful Shivam Dube more than holding their own. The Chinnaswamy boasted the most sixes at one venue this season before Monday—57 from three games—and CSK added 17 to that tally. Six flowed off Conway’s willow and Dube chipped in with five as he reached his fifty in just 25 balls, further reiterating how far he has come this season.
Barring Siraj, RCB’s bowling was ragged and powerless to staunch the flow of runs. Wayne Parnell went for 48, Vyshak Vijay Kumar received a reality check after his roaring debut on Saturday and Harshal Patel couldn’t even complete his spell, forced off the attack after two full tosses above waist high to Moeen Ali in the final over. There was little for the spinners—Wanindu Hasaranga, RCB’s leading wicket-taker last season only bowled two overs—as the CSK batting flexed its muscle, interspersing muscular strokeplay with incandescent touch and excellent placement. The rarefied air of the garden city helped the ball travel far and wide, and between them, Conway and Dube struck the roof of the stadium thrice.
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