Du Plessis (54) and league top scorer Virat Kohli (47) gave Bengaluru a good start and their middle order followed suit to lead the team to a 218-5 in their final group match. Chennai made 191-7 in reply in the rain-soaked match as Bengaluru joined Kolkata, Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the playoffs.
How did MS Dhoni’s last six games help RCB win the match?
MS Dhoni hit a SIX over 100m but CSK couldn’t chase down 11 runs in the last 5 balls. My heart is breaking 😭😭😭💔💔💔 #IPL2024 #RCBvsCSK #tapmad #HojaoADFreepic.twitter.com/ogMknnuUWN
– Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) May 18, 2024
The veteran wicket-keeper batter started on the brightest possible note, hitting the first ball of the 20th over for a 110m six, outside the Chinnaswamy, leaving just 11 runs to score off the last 5 balls.
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But it turned out to be the best thing that could happen for RCB as it gave a new ball to lethal bowler Yash Dayal. The new ball was not wet and that helped it land perfectly for RCB to restrict the CSK batters to chase down those 11 runs that could take them to the playoffs.
“It was like a test match on day five,” said du Plessis explaining how difficult the pitch was to operate after rain interrupted play. “For me and Virat to get through it and find a way somehow, and then to get a score of 200, it was incredible.”
Middle-order hitters Rajat Patidar, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik and Glenn Maxwell produced breezy cameos to take Bengaluru past the 200 mark. “That’s our last six games, right? contributions from many hitters with good intensity and good strike rates At the start of the season we felt like we were a little slow and we wanted a little more intention in our batting. That’s great,” declared player of the match du Plessis.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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