IPL 2015: Ashish Nehra, Chennai’s Super King

Nehra ended Bangalore’s faint hopes of a victory by dismissing RCB’s Kohli and Harshal in consecutive deliveries. (Source: BCCI)

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.

Earlier, Chennai rode on Raina’s brilliant attacking half-century and his 54-run quickfire partnership from just four overs for the third wicket with his captain Dhoni (13) to post a challenging 181 for eight.

Chennai lost a bit of momentum in between with quick dismissals of Raina, Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja (8) but they still scored 181 for eight with Faf du Plessis remaining not out on 33 from 18 deliveries.

Chennai were 81 for two at the halfway mark and added exactly 100 in the next 10 overs. Opener Dwayne Smith made a handy contribution of 39 from 29 balls.

Raina came in at the fall of other opener Brendon McCullum (4) in the second over and after settling down, he set the Chinnaswamy Stadium on fire with some lusty blows all over the park. He hit four boundaries and six sixes in his 32-ball knock.

Raina struck three sixes off successive deliveries in the 13th over bowled by leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. He reached to his fifty with the first six of the over in the second ball and then followed up with two more.

But Raina was out while trying for one big hit too many as he holed out to Rilee Rossouw at long off in the fifth ball of the 13th over.

Chennai then lost Dhoni and Jadeja in quick succession — in the 15th and 16th overs. Dwayne Bravo (5) and Ravichandran Ashwin (5) also did not last long but du Plessis held one end together to take his side to a challenging total.

For Bangalore, Chahal was the most successful bowler by grabbing three wickets though he conceded 40 runs in his four overs. Iqbal Abdulla took two wickets while Mitchell Starc, Harshal Patel and David Wiese got a wicket each.

Source:: Indian Express