Dube, Uthappa hammer RCB for first win

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) defeated the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the twenty-second game of the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL). The match was played in the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Shivam Dube was adjudged to be the Man of the Match.

CSK stifled by RCB at the start

Ruturaj Gaikwad's disastrous IPL run continued as he succumbed to Josh Hazlewood with the new ball. In the seventh over, Moeen Ali was run out by debutant Suyash Prabhudessai, reducing the score to 36/2. RCB kept Robin Uthappa to 23 off 22 in the first ten overs thanks to Glenn Maxwell's early spin.

The Uthappa-Dube show begins

Wanindu Hasaranga was brought on in the 11th over after Royal Challengers delayed his introduction due to the presence of a left-handed batter. Dube slammed him right away, hitting him for a six and a four. He hammered Shahbaz Ahamed for another six in the 12th over. In the 13th over, Uthappa, not to be outdone, sent Maxwell into the greater leg-side boundary for three sixes.

The onslaught had begun, and the Royal Challengers, the tournament's poorest bowling side at the death, had no answers in the absence of Harshal Patel, who was unable to play due to the death of his sister.

The Super Kings didn't mind hitting into the larger side because the hitting was so good. Uthappa tried a few beautiful ramps, but Dube sat deep in the crease and punished length errors with ease. There were plenty of mistakes also. Mohammed Siraj had overstepped when he had Uthappa caught out at the conclusion of the 17th over.

No one was spared, but Akash Deep took the brunt of the punishment. Hazlewood's back two overs were dismissed for 12 and 15 respectively, Siraj gave away 18 in his final over, and Hasaranga was dismissed for 13, 13 and 14. Both players were on track for hundreds after starting at a run a ball, but Uthappa was caught at deep midwicket in the 19th over while trying to go from 88 to 94. Dube started the last over on 80 and advanced to 94 with the penultimate ball, but he managed to send a low full toss straight to long-off.

RCB's shaky start

RCB have been the second slowest team in the powerplay in this year's IPL, preferring to build themselves up for acceleration in the middle and the death overs, but they didn't have that luxury in the chase for 217. The Super Kings nailed their match-ups early on, giving them a hefty amount of spin.

Someone had to take a chance when Maheesh Theekshana started the third over at 11/0. Faf du Plessis did, but Theekshana was able to stifle him. In the fourth over, Kohli attempted to hit out against Mukesh Choudhary but was caught at long leg. With a carrom ball, Theekshana ended the powerplay by trapping Anuj Rawat leg before wicket (LBW).

With Glenn Maxwell's introduction, Ravindra Jadeja gave himself the opportunity to bowl, and he duly bowled Maxwell for the seventh time in thirteen innings. 

Prabhudessai and Ahmed postpone the inevitable

Prabhudessai continued his stellar start by putting together a 60-run partnership in 5.3 overs with Shahbaz Ahmed. Prabhudessai began with conventional boundaries, but he also demonstrated his reverse-sweep and ramp. Shahbaz was more diligent and had to put in more effort to complete his runs.

Theekshana continues to impress

Theekshana came back to take both Prabhudessai and Shahbaz, but Choudhary lost a sitter from Dinesh Karthik for his third miss of the night. Karthik then proceeded to give the Super Kings some tense moments, particularly when they elected to hand the 17th over to Choudhary. Karthik shaved 23 runs off the total, reducing the need from 71 to 48.

Finally, in the 19th over, Bravo got Karthik to hit towards the larger leg-side boundary, with skipper Jadeja standing guard. He will be delighted that his team has finally scored points, but the Super Kings could easily have won by 50-60 runs, which would have had a significant impact on the net run rate.