Vettori returns; RCB beat Chennai

RCB made four changes to their playing (Dani)eleven – Asad Pathan, Arun Karthik, Johan van der Wath and Charl Langeveldt made way for Mayank Agarwal, Luke Pomersbach, Vettori (who was leading the team, and chose to field on winning the toss) and Zaheer Khan.

CSK made no changes to their playing eleven.

The first Powerplay of CSK’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was between the first and the sixth over. They scored 23, and lost four wickets.

Michael Hussey had no reason to be in seventh heaven – he scored four. Thirteen balls later, Khan broke the seven-run stand.

Murali Vijay, whose nine-ball innings included A Boundary, scored half-a-dozen. Eight balls later, he was caught by de Villiers. Sreenath Aravind broke the nine-run stand.

Suresh Raina, who faced half-a-dozen balls, scored four. His runs came by way of a boundary. Four balls later, he was caught by Virat Kohli. Khan broke the one-run stand.

Subramaniam Badrinath, who faced 10 balls, didn’t get off the mark. Nine balls later, he was caught by Abhimanyu Mithun. Vettori broke the five-run stand.

CSK scored 50 off 12.1 overs (73 balls). RCB had conceded four extras at that point.

Wriddhiman Saha, whose 30-ball innings included a boundary and a six, scored 22. Forty-seven balls after Badrinath’s dismissal, he was caught by Pomersbach. Kohli broke the 42-run stand.

Dwayne Bravo, whose run-a-ball innings included a boundary, scored five. Ten balls later, he was trapped leg before wicket by Vettori, who broke the 15-run stand.

CSK scored 100 off 17.3 overs (105 balls). RCB had conceded 10 extras at that point. That was, incidentally, the number of extras they eventually conceded.

Albie Morkel, who faced nine balls, scored five. Fifteen balls after Bravo’s dismissal, he was caught by Khan. Mithun broke the 21-run stand.

Ravichandran Ashwin, who faced four balls, scored a couple. Seven balls later, he was caught by Mithun. Aravind broke the 10-run stand.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, CSK’s skipper, scored 50 off 32 balls, which included a couple of boundaries and four sixes.

Dhoni eventually scored 70 off 40 balls, which included three boundaries and half-a-dozen sixes. He was unbeaten, as was Shadab Jakati, who didn’t face a ball.

CSK scored 128 for the loss of eight wickets off 20 overs.

Chris Gayle, who bowled three wicketless overs, conceded 27.

Kohli, who bowled an over, conceded eight. He picked up a wicket, as did Mithun, who bowled four overs, conceding 35.

Aravind, Khan (whose spell included a maiden) and Vettori bowled four overs each, picking up a couple of scalps apiece. They conceded 20, 19, and 15, respectively.

The first Powerplay of RCB’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was between the first and the sixth over. They scored 44, and lost a wicket.

RCB’s openers didn’t get off the mark. De Villiers, who faced three balls, didn’t open his account. Three balls into the chase, he was stumped by Dhoni off the bowling of Ashwin.

RCB scored 50 off 7.2 overs (44 balls). CSK had conceded a couple of extras at that point.

The second-wicket put on 50 off 41 balls. While the contributions of both Gayle and Kohli to the partnership were 24 apiece, extras’ contribution to it was a couple.

Gayle’s half-century – which included three boundaries and four sixes – came off 34 balls.

He eventually scored 75 off 50 balls, which included four boundaries and half-a-dozen boundaries, and was unbeaten.

Kohli, whose 29-ball innings included five boundaries, eventually scored 31. Fifty-six balls after de Villiers’ dismissal, he was caught by Ashwin. Morkel broke the 80-run partnership.

RCB scored 100 off 14.1 overs (85 balls). The number of extras they had conceded at that point gave CSK no reason to be in seventh heaven.

Saurabh Tiwary, whose 26-ball innings included a boundary, scored 13. He was unbeaten.

CSK eventually conceded 10 extras. RCB, who scored 129 for the loss of a couple of wickets off 18 overs, won by eight wickets with a couple of overs to spare.

Raina, Doug Bollinger and Bravo bowled four wicketless overs apiece. They conceded 38, 34, and 18, respectively.

Morkel bowled two overs, conceding 16. He picked up a scalp, as did Ashwin, who bowled four overs, conceding 18.