IPL 2018: CSK go top after seeing off RCB in low-scorer

PTI

Chennai returned to winning ways as they beat Bangalore by six wickets to go top of the 2018 IPL standings in Pune on Saturday.

Chasing a lowly 128 to win at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Chennai stuttered a little at 80/4 in the 13th over but captain MS Dhoni (31 not out off 22 balls) and Dwayne Bravo (14 not out off 17 balls) used their experience to good effect to keep the visitors at bay. Bravo was though lucky to have been dropped twice.

Chennai reached the target in 18 overs to get their seventh win in 10 games. RCB, on the other hand, suffered their sixth defeat in nine matches and jeopardized their play-off chances greatly.

However, to all intents and purposes, the win was orchestrated by Chennai's bowlers.

After being put into bat, Bangalore put up a lowly batting performance on their way to recording IPL 2018's third-lowest total batting first. 

At 89/8 in the 16th over, it appeared RCB will find it hard to go past Hyderabad's 118 but unexpected help from Tim Southee and Mohammed Siraj took them not only past SRH's total but also past Rajasthan's 125/9 against SRH. 

Both added 38 runs for the ninth wicket with Southee dominating the partnership with 34 runs as RCB finished on 127/9. The New Zealand allrounder remained unbeaten on 36 off 26 balls with the help of three fours and one six.

Ravindra Jadeja was at the centre of Chennai's brilliant bowling performance. After dropping two simple catches in CSK's defeat against KKR in their last match, Jadeja appeared a man on a mission and returned 3/18, including the prized scalp of Virat Kohli whom he cleaned up for 8.

Parthiv Patel, playing his first match this season, and Mandeep Singh were the other two victims of Jadeja. David Willey, who replaced Faf du Plessis for his first game this season, also gave a good account of himself with figures of 1/24. Veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh chipped in with two wickets at the expense of 22 runs. 

Parthiv turned out to be RCB's top-scorer with a 41-ball 53.