Dhoni, Bravo seal the win for CSK against RCB

Mahendra Singh Dhoni once again showed his prowess was not on the wane as he blazed his way to a 34-ball 70 and powered Chennai Super Kings to a five-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League here tonight.

Opener Ambati Rayudu laid the foundation with a sparkling 82 off 53 balls, hitting eight sixes and three fours. CSK needed 16 runs in the last over and Dhoni hit a six, his seventh of the night, to see his team through after Dwayne Bravo struck and a boundary and a six.

Batting first, RCB notched up a competitive 205 for eight riding on Ad de Villiers 30-ball 68 and Quinton de Kock’s 53, but CSK chased down the target with two balls to spare.

Dhoni remained not out with seven seven maximums and a boundary, after adding 101 runs for the fifth wicket with Rayudu. Chennai Super Kings were off to a bad start with Pawan Negi sending back Shane Watson with just eight runs on the board. A 42-run partnership ensued between Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina before the experienced left-handed batsman fell for 11 in the sicth over.

Sam Billings came and went back to the dugout for the addition of just nine runs to the team total, while Ravindra Jadeka was bowled by Yuzvendra Chahal to leave CSK in a spot of bother at 74 for four. However, Rayudu and skipper Dhoni had other ideas as the duo staged a fine recovery before bringing CSK right back into the game.

A flurry of sixes flowed from the blades of Rayudu and Dhoni as they constructed their innings keeping the required run rate in mind. Umesh Yadav dropping a sitter to give Rayudu a life off Corey Anderson made things miserable for RCB as the batsman took full advantage of that by hitting the bowler for two successive sixes in the same over.

Before that, Pawan Negi was blasted for 19 runs with Dhoni using his strong bottom hand and power to hit two sixes, while Rayudu also got himself one maxium. 71 runs were required from the last five overs and the equation was brought down to 55 from 24 after that eventful 16th over by Anderson.

With CSK needing 45 from 18 balls, Dhoni hit a six to keep his team in the hunt, but Umesh made amends for his drop catch by running out Rayudu with a direct hit to bring another twist to the game.