Hello and a warm welcome to another blog where I will write a short preview of the 6th match, between RCB and PBKS, and the 7th match, between CSK and GT. Similar to the first 5 games, the home side emerged victorious even in these games. So let’s get started!
- Royal Challengers Bengaluru VS Punjab Kings | M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to field first, a no-brainer for a captain at the Chinnaswamy, where chasing is the best option and a high-scoring game was expected in front of a packed RCB crowd. The Kings lost Bairstow early but a stable partnership between Dhawan and Prabhsimran started taking the game away from RCB but Maxwell removed Prabhsimran in the 9th over and soon after removed Dhawan as well. There were small cameos from Livingstone, Sam Curran and Jitesh Sharma but RCB kept pecking the Kings with regular wickets and it looked like the Kings were going to finish on a below-par total. But a crucial knock from Shashank Singh gave the Kings a respectable 176. The chase started with Kohli getting dropped the second ball, then hitting 3 more boundaries in the first over itself. But Faf and Green fell shortly after keeping the Kings at the top. But Kohli was on song and Patidar played a second fiddle before getting bowled by Harpreet Brar, who even removed Maxwell shortly after and ended up giving just 13 runs in his 4 overs, which is almost impossible at the Chinnaswamy. But Kohli still kept playing, keeping RCB in the hunt, but once he and Rawat fell, it looked like PBKS were going to break the jinx and become the first away team to win a game. But DK had other ideas and a smart ploy of having an extra batter in the form of Lomror, who came in as an impact sub, proved to be effective as DK and Lomror won RCB their first game and more importantly, a win at the Chinnaswamy, and also giving the RCB fans a proper Monday night entertainer and a King Kohli special. - Chennai Super Kings VS Gujarat Titans | M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Shubman Gill won the toss and opted to field first as CSK played even their second game of the season at their fortress. CSK were off to a blast with Rachin Ravindra never putting the brakes and playing a superb 46. But soon after Rahane and Ruturaj, after playing a handy 46, departed, GT thought of clawing back into the game. But Shivam Dube went berserk with an explosive 51, consisting of 5 sixes and showed why he is that X-Factor for CSK. He was supported by Mitchell for a while and short cameos from Rizvi and Jadeja propelled the Super Kings to a massive 206, and perhaps here itself, the game was done and dusted. The chase started well with Saha picking up boundaries but when Gill fell, the Titans slowed down and soon after Vijay Shankar fell, courtesy of a brilliant diving catch by MS Dhoni, which was followed by a huge roar by the Chennai crowd. Even as Sai Sudarshan played anchor, it was very slow and the others also failed to contribute as wickets were falling almost every over, supported by good catching, especially by Rachin Ravindra, who picked up 3 catches but the standout was Rahane’s catch of Miller. When even Sudarshan fell, it was imminent that the Titans would crumble to a huge loss. And this proved to be true as the Super Kings decimated the Titans with a massive all-round win by 63 runs.