A little over an hour into the first-afternoon match at the Wankhede, Royal Challengers Bangalore had it firmly in their grips. History has been witness to myriad chaotic games between these two IPL powerhouses, but RCB was having none of that on a hot, humid, and irritable early evening in Mumbai.
With the fluency of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis, CSK hit top gear early but soon appeared to drive off the road. Moeen Ali's absence burned a hole through CSK's middle-over batting abilities, a phase that they've been the most prolific in among all teams this year. In relative terms, the scoring regressed, as they got just 57 in the 7-15 overs phase, scoring far below their season average run rate of 9.56.
Yet, it'd be unfair on RCB to put it down to just CSK missing a key player. After all, Virat Kohli's side has made a refreshing start to the season with the ball, prompting the skipper to hail his attack as effective without having 'standout names' and taking pride in the depth and the death-over abilities.
RCB were just one game old at the Wankhede but their bowlers quickly grasped the selective tackiness of the pitch to keep CSK in check. Harshal Patel - a chief contributor to Kohli's aforementioned pride - was the protagonist of a familiarly favorable narrative again, as he stood at the top of his run-up before the 20th over with his figures at 3 overs, 6 dots, 14 runs, and 3 wickets.
But even in a season where they've actively avoided getting tripped up by their own feet, RCB found chaos waiting at their doorsteps. Ravindra Jadeja camped deep inside the crease and carved open Harshal's death-over credentials in the space of an agonizing seven-ball over, as the broadcasters captured the frustration and sheer perplexion of Jadeja's audacity with a quick shift between close-up shots of Kohli and AB de Villiers.
"That's no fluke what happened in that last over," Faf du Plessis said of Jadeja's six-hitting appetite. "Jaddu trains well, he hits a lot of sixes in his practice sessions. Obviously, it brought us a huge momentum shift. Until that point, it was pretty much par score, around 160-165."
Having to chase 192 after maintaining so much control over CSK's innings would've been deflating, but there was still enough time, opportunity, and skill for the narrative to flip on its head again.
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