RCB vs CSK Match Analysis: RCB’s historic comeback seals playoff spot with thrilling 27-run victory over CSK

CHENNAI: On March 17, Smriti Mandhana led Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to their first Women's Premier League title, proudly declaring, "It's Ee Saala Cup Namdu!" Now, the men’s team has a chance to say the same, as 62 days later, they have pulled off a sensational comeback in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and secured the final playoff spot with a decisive 27-run victory over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

RCB, who have never won the IPL in 16 years since the inaugural season in 2008, are now just three wins away from clinching the coveted title for the first time.

But it was not an easy win for RCB against CSK as they needed a win of over 18 runs or more in order to top them in the net run rate, and at one point, it looked like the men in yellow were on the verge of doing their routine of winning in Chinnaswamy when MS Dhoni smashed a 110-metre six off Yash Dayal’s first ball of the final over.

When CSK needed 11 off 5 balls to qualify, Dayal’s slowish delivery angling towards off made Dhoni go across the line but found Swapnil Singh in deep backward square leg. The slower deliveries did the trick for Dayal to concede just one run in the next four balls to help RCB triumph over the defending champions.

After being asked to bat first, the blazing starts by Virat Kohli, and Faf du Plessis set the tone for RCB to be 31/0 in three overs before rain hit pause on the game.

When the match resumed, the pitch seemed to have completely changed, with Maheesh Theekshana and Mitchell Santner bowling seven dots in two overs, with the ball turning and bouncing all around the place. This slowed down the RCB batters, as they only managed to score 42 runs at the end of powerplay, their joint-lowest this season.

After both openers got out, thanks to Santner, as he dimissed Kohli in the 10th over, and in the final ball of the 12th over, he managed to get the tip of his finger on the ball before it crashed onto the stumps, sending the RCB skipper back to the dugout in an unfortunate manner after he scored 54 runs off 39 balls.

But Faf got his redemption against Santner as he took a screamer of a catch in the 15th over, where the 39-year-old stretched to his right and plucked the ball off thin air to dismiss Santner for just three runs, which was a game changer for the home team. The middle-over stint is what made the difference, as RCB scored 113 runs in overs 7-16.

Meanwhile, CSK not only scored just 80 runs but also lost four wickets in the middle phase of the game. The miscommunication between Rachin Ravindra and Shivam Dube cost them the wicket of the Kiwi, who was playing a great innings, scoring 61 runs off 37 balls.

Glenn Maxwell, who replaced Will Jacks, got the CSK skipper in the first ball of the second innings, which set the tone for the Bengaluru bowlers. He ended up bowling his entire four overs and gave away only 25 runs with one wicket.

RCB will either face Rajasthan Royals (RR) or Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the eliminator on March 22 depending on the results in the final league double header on Sunday.