Ruturaj Gaikwad 1/0, Noor Ahmad 9/10: Catch CSK player ratings in 50-run loss vs RCB

What a night it was at Chepauk! Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finally broke their 17-year jinx, thrashing Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by a whopping 50 runs. The RCB bowlers, led by Josh Hazlewood’s sensational 3/21, choked the life out of CSK’s batting, leaving them gasping for air. Even MS Dhoni’s late fireworks couldn’t salvage the situation. Earlier, Rajat Patidar’s explosive 51 and Rachin Ravindra’s classy 41 had powered RCB to a commanding 196/5. This win sends RCB soaring to the top of the points table, and they’ll be buzzing with confidence!

CSK Player Ratings vs RCB

Rachin Ravindra (7.4/10)

Once again, Rachin Ravindra looked CSK’s best batter. Yes, he couldn’t take the innings deep, but it was crucial when he lost his partners quickly early on. The Kiwi talent looked as composed as he usually looks and made a healthy 41. However, a match-sealing over by Yash Dayal castled him!

Rahul Tripathi, Ruturaj Gaikwad (1/10) & Deepak Hooda (0/10)

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood gave RCB a perfect start in the powerplay. The reason was the triple wicket they got. Rahul Tripathi, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Deepak Hooda were all dismissed early. The ploy for Tripathi to open the innings has failed thus far as he skied one up to get out for 5.

Gaikwad, fresh off his fastest fifty against MI, was out for nought off 4 balls. He took on Hazlewood for a bouncer but the Australian isn’t any Deepak Chahar or an ageing Trent Boult. The extra bounce got to him, and he left CSK reeling. Then came Deepak Hooda, who has looked out of sorts. Bhuvneshwar got him for 4 off 9. Earlier, Hooda spilled one easy catch of Rajat Patidar, who went on to hit a fifty.

Sam Curran & Ravindra Jadeja (3/10)

The two utility all-rounder had an off day today. Sam Curran had an economy of 11.30, while Jadeja’s 12.30 was even worse. They got easily hit and weren’t able to make a comeback via their bowling. With the bat, Curran was slotted at number five but ended up making 8 off 13. Jaddu, meanwhile, 25 that made him a holder of a huge IPL record.

MS Dhoni (7/10)

The match was well over when MS Dhoni entered the crease. But did he enter the game at an ideal number? Well, for only the second time in his IPL career, Dhoni came to bat at number nine. He pushed Ravi Ashwin to number seven when Dhoni could’ve definitely come to bat. Instead, he looked to bat out the entire 20 overs to help CSK finish the game with some runs under the board. Fans were ecstatic seeing those big hits as he clubbed 30* off 16. But was his cameo actually helpful?

Ravichandran Ashwin (6/10)

Phil Salt tore into Ravi Ashwin, who bowled the second over in the powerplay. Against the right-hander, Ashwin tried to vary his lengths but was slammed for two fours and a six. Gaikwad bowled Ashwin just two overs. The second over was much better. With an open field, he gave the ball much more time in the air and luckily got Devdutt Padikkal, who scooped one low to Gaikwad. He got a chance to bat above MS Dhoni but couldn’t make a difference either.

Noor Ahmad (9/10) & Matheesha Pathirana (8/10)

Noor Ahmad and Matheesha Pathirana combined together to take five wickets between them. Noor was more impressive, though. He continued his stellar form, taking 3/36 that involved wickets of Virat Kohli, Phil Salt & Liam Livingstone. He looped it in the air and was turning off the deck greatly. His last over saw 15 runs that hampered his figures somewhat. Noor now has purple cap to his name as well.

As for Pathirana, he took 2/36 in his return game. It came as a surprise when Gaikwad announced his availability. In the match, Pathirana zipped through batters with his consistent 140+ speeds. One ball hit Kohli’s helmet as well, but the maestro replied emphatically. However, Pathirana leaked runs too. His two wickets came at the death when batters tried extra.

Khaleel Ahmed (7/10)

Khaleel Ahmed was great with the new ball again. While he didn’t take any wickets in the powerplay, he was well-disciplined, especially against Virat Kohli. Khaleel did err in line against Salt but that was it. The left-armer operated at an economy of 7.00 despite bowling two overs after 14 overs. Khaleel got the wicket of Jitesh Sharma as well, who was looking good (12 off 6).