Bengaluru, May 4: Ayush Mhatre nearly upended Romario Shepherd’s ferocious 14-ball fifty with a 94 of rare class but Royal Challengers Bengaluru bowlers kept their nerves in the death overs to carve an out-of-fire two-run win over Chennai Super Kings and get closer to IPL playoffs here on Saturday.
Once the RCB piled a massive 213 for five, courtesy fifties of different hues by Virat Kohli (62, 33 balls), Jacob Bethell (55 off 33) and Shepherd (53 not out of 14, 4×4, 6×6), joint-second fastest in the IPL, CSK had a mountain to climb.
But they almost did the unthinkable, riding on 17-year-old Mhatre’s 94 (48 balls; 9×4, 5×6), only to end up at 211 for five.
Mhatre had an astute partner in veteran Ravindra Jadeja (77 not out off 45 balls), as they together milked 114 runs for the third wicket.
The Mumbai lad began the innings by punishing seasoned pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar for 26 runs in the Power Play segment and he never really let that tempo down.
With the win, RCB moved to the top of the IPL table with 16 points from 11 matches.
Mhatre brought into practice all the technical nous and batting cleverness that he learned from hours of net sessions at the famed Oval maidan in Mumbai to poleaxe a RCB bowling attack sans injured pacer Josh Hazlewood.
A lot of eyebrows were raised when Mhatre was picked as injury replacement of Ruturaj Gaikwad ahead of Gujarat’s Urvil Patel and Kerala’s Salman Nizar.
But both CSK skipper Dhoni and coach Stephen Fleming had full confidence in Mhatre once they saw him at the team’s selection nets ahead of this IPL, and he repaid their faith with dividends tonight.
Jadeja, a grizzly haired CSK veteran who got reprieves on 57 and 69, too, deserved a full set of compliments for staying with the young man at the other end, and guiding him through a tension-filled atmosphere.
But a rather tired-looking heave off Lungi Ngidi ended Mhatre’s masterpiece as he lofted him straight to Krunal Pandya in the deep.
At that stage, CSK were 172 for two in 16.2 overs, needing 42 more runs for the victory.
Ngidi dismissed Dewald Brevis for nought to turn the tide in favour of RCB, as Yash Dayal had 15 runs to defend in the final over.
Dayal dismissed Dhoni to leave CSK to make 13 runs off three balls, which eventually became four runs in one ball.
However, the left-arm pacer’s full-length delivery allowed Shivam Dube to take only a single off the last ball.
Earlier, Kohli and Bethel did the early running with well-crafted fifties before Shepherd exploded into action in the last 12 balls of the RCB innings.
Kohli and Bethel raised 97 runs in just 9.5 overs for the opening wicket.
Khaleel Ahmed tried to test Kohli with a snorter but it was pulled thunderously over fine leg for a six and in the very next ball, he flicked an over-pitched delivery for another maximum.
Bethel, on the other hand, smashed Ahmed for three successive fours in the first over, all rasping cuts and forceful drives, as RCB raced out of the traps.
Bethel brought up his maiden IPL fifty with a reverse scoop four off Jadeja. Kohli too reached his fifty soon after with a routine slap through the cover region for a four off Jadeja.
Just as the alliance was blossoming further, Bethel skied Pathirana (3/36) for Dewald Brevis to complete a fine catch.
Shortly after, Curran consumed Kohli with a slow delivery which did not allow the batter to execute a ramp over Ahmed at gully.
RCB were 121 for two in the 12th over at that stage.
However, skipper Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal failed to force the pace as RCB settled for 37 runs between overs 12 and 18.
But Shepherd waded into Ahmed (65 runs in 3 overs), slamming him for four sixes and two fours in the 19th over which yielded 33 runs.
Shepherd and Tim David raised their fifty stand for the sixth wicket in just 14 balls and the latter contributed a princely two in that alliance as RCB made 54 runs in the last two overs. (PTI)
