Harshal Patel and Glenn Maxwell led a clinical bowling performance to help Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) register a 13-run win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK), pushing the defending champions to the brink of elimination in the IPL on Wednesday (May 4).
The quartet of Mahipal Lomror, who smashed a 27-ball 42, skipper Faf du Plessis (38 off 22), Virat Kohli (30 off 33) and Dinesh Karthik (27 not out off 17) did well to lift RCB to 173/8.
RCB bowlers then restricted the Yellow army to 160 for 8, despite a fifty by opener Devon Conway (56).
Meanwhile, CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni pulled up his batters for their poor shot selection which led to a hapless defeat against RCB.
"We did well to restrict them to 170-odd runs. We had to get off to a good start, everything was up to the mark and what let us down was the batsmanship," Dhoni said after the match.
CSK were 54 for no loss in 6.3 overs but they kept losing wickets to eventually fall shot of the target.
It was CSK's seventh loss of the season.
"When you are chasing you know what is required and at times you have to curb your instinct and see what really the situation is demanding rather than playing your shots," Dhoni said. "The shot selection could have been better towards the end. We had a good start and had wickets in hand, the surface kept getting better but we lost wickets at regular intervals.
"We can look back at some of the shots, if we take care of those things.. chasing is about calculations and batting first is more about instinct. Ultimately as a batter or bowler you are in the middle and you have to decide," Dhoni further added.
Winning captain Faf du Plessis said his team was in need of this win after three successive losses.
"We definitely needed that. We put up a decent total. We are moving in the right direction. We have been very good in the bowling department," he said.
"I thought 165 would be nice to get. The fielding was amazing. Some great catching and good bowling indeed." He said his team will have to "keep improving in the batting department. We want one of the top four to bat through," Du Plessis added.
With this win, RCB moved to the fourth position in overall standing.
