BENGALURU, April 25: Mahendra Singh Dhoni blazed his way to a 34-ball 70 and powered Chennai Super Kings to a five-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League here tonight.
Opener Ambati Rayudu laid the foundation with a sparkling 82 off 53 balls, hitting eight sixes and three fours.
CSK needed 16 runs in the last over and Dhoni hit a six, his seventh of the night, to see his team through after Dwayne Bravo struck a boundary and a six.
Batting first, RCB notched up a competitive 205 for eight riding on Ad de Villiers 30-ball 68 and Quinton de Kock�s 53, but CSK chased down the target with two balls to spare. Dhoni remained not out.
Chennai Super Kings were off to a bad start with Pawan Negi sending back Shane Watson with just eight runs on the board.
A 42-run partnership ensued between Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina before the experienced left-handed batsman fell for 11 in the sixth over.
However, Rayudu and skipper Dhoni had other ideas as the duo staged a fine recovery before bringing CSK right back into the game.
Umesh Yadav dropping a sitter to give Rayudu a life off Corey Anderson made things miserable for RCB as the batsman took full advantage of that by hitting the bowler for two successive sixes in the same over.
Before that, Pawan Negi was blasted for 19 runs with Dhoni using his strong bottom hand and power to hit two sixes, while Rayudu also got himself one maximum.
71 runs were required from the last five overs and the equation was brought down to 55 from 24 after that eventful 16th over by Anderson.
With CSK needing 45 from 18 balls, Dhoni hit a six to keep his team in the hunt, but Umesh made amends for his drop catch by running out Rayudu with a direct hit to bring another twist to the game.
Despite scoring 15 runs in the previous over, CSK needed 30 in the last two overs. CSK managed 16 in the penultimate over, thanks to some dreadful bowling by Mohammed Shiraj, who conceded two wides and a no ball.
RCB�s was a strange innings as it saw two wicket-maiden overs and a triple-wicket final over, which also fetched the home team 14 runs.
CSK got the big wicket of RCB skipper Virat Kohli when Shardul Thakur had him caught at mid-on by a diving Ravindra Jadeja with the score reading 35 at the start of fifth over. Kohli was dismissed for 18.
CSK�s joy was short-lived as de Villiers joined forces with compatriot de Kock to flay the visiting team�s bowling attack.
From 138 for one at the start of 14th over, RCB slumped to 142 for four, following which Mandeep Singh (32 of 17 balls) and Washington Sundar (13 off 4) propped up the home team. � PTI
SCORE CARD
Royal Challengers Bangalore: De Kock c & b Bravo 53, Kohli c R Jadeja b Thakur 18, De Villiers c Billings b Tahir 68, Anderson c Harbhajan b Tahir 2, M Singh c Jadeja b Thakur 32, Colin de Grandhomme run out 11, P Negi run out 0, W Sundar not out 13, U Yadav c Billings b Bravo 0, M Siraj not out 0; Extras: (b-4, w-4); Total: 205/8 in 20 overs; Fall of wickets: 35-1, 138-2, 142-3, 142-4, 191-5, 191-6, 192-7, 193-8; Bowling: Chahar 2-0-20-0, Shardul 4-1-46-2, Harbhajan 2-0-24-0, Jadeja 2-0-22-0, Watson 2-0-21-0, Tahir 4-0-35-2, Bravo 4-1-33-2.
Chennai Super Kings: Watson c Siraj b Negi 7, Rayudu run out 82, Raina c Mandeep b Umesh 11, Billings st de Kock b Chahal 9, Jadeja b Chahal 3, Dhoni not out 70, Bravo not out 14; Extras: (lb-2, w-8, nb-1); Total: 207/5 wkts in 19.4 overs; Fall of wickets: 8-1, 50-2, 59-3, 74-4, 175-5; Bowling: P Negi 3-0-36-1, Umesh 4-0-23-1, Washington 1-0-14-0, Siraj 4-0-48-0, Chahal 4-0-26-2, Anderson 3.4-0-58-0. � PTI
