IPL 2015: Ashish Nehra, Chennai’s Super King
Veteran Ashish Nehra dished out a brilliant spell of pace bowling after Suresh Raina’s batting heroics as Chennai Super Kings recorded a comfortable 27-run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore in their IPL cricket match in Bangalore on Wednesday.
Put into bat, Raina smashed a blistering 32-ball 62 to help Chennai post a challenging 181 for 8 after a 25-minute delayed start due to rain before Nehra led the bowling charge with superb figures of four wickets for 10 runs in his four overs, his best in T20 cricket, at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
35-year-old Nehra ended Bangalore’s faint hopes of a victory by dismissing home side captain Virat Kohli (51) and Harshal Patel (0) in consecutive deliveries in the 17th over to seal the match for Chennai. Bangalore ended at 154 for eight while chasing 182 for a win.
The home side which took the field without destructive opening batsman Chris Gayle — dropped after indifferent form — did not have a big partnership and none of their top-order batsmen, except Kohli, could reach to 20.
The India Test captain Kohli played a fine 42-ball knock which was studded with four boundaries and two sixes but he was out just when he looked like setting up himself nicely for a final assault.
With Wednesday’s win, Chennai bounced back after their last match loss to Rajasthan Royals and now have eight points from five matches with the help of three wins to remain on second spot.
On the other hand, Bangalore slumped to their third loss on the trot and still remain at the bottom of the eight-team league table with just two points from four matches by virtue of their win over defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders in their opening match.
Bangalore made a flying start in their reply with Rilee Rossouw (14) and Manvinder Bisla (17) reaching 31 for no loss in the third over but Nehra dismissed the opening duo in the space of four balls in the fourth over to push the home side on the backfoot.
Bisla was out thanks to a sensational one-handed catch by Faf du Plessis at mid-off in one of the best catches of the tournament so far. Du Plessis plucked the ball from the air with his outstretched hands and held onto it while falling on the ground.
In the last ball of the fourth over, Rossouw edged a Nehra delivery on to his stumps as RCB were reduced to 33 for two in the fourth over.
The two quick dismissals applied brakes on the home side.
Dinesh Karthik could contribute just 10 from 11 balls before he was out thanks to a superb catch by Dwayne Bravo off the bowling of Ishwar Pandey and A B de Villiers (14 from 10 balls) also did not last long after threatening to play a big knock.
De Villiers hit two sixes in his short stay at the crease before he was run-out due to a brilliant effort by Chennai captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who was able to beat the nimble-footed South African to dislodge the bails before he could regain his crease.
Bangalore was on a shaky ground at 75 for three at the halfway mark and IPL debutant Sarfaraz Khan (11), the youngest to play in the cash-rich league at 17 years and 177 days, made a quick exit after hitting a six.
That left Bangalore at 97 for five at the 14th over and the asking rate rose to nearly 14 an over.
Kohli reached to his fifty from 40 balls with a straight six off Ravindra Jadeja in the 16th over but soon got out to leave Bangalore in tatters.
