Hello and welcome to Sportstar's LIVE coverage of Sunday's IPL 2019 match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
RCB WINS BY 1 RUN! What an absolute thriller! Dhoni misses the ball and Shardul Thakur sprints across the pitch. But Parthiv Patel hits the stumps with a direct throw. The umpires go upstairs and its OUT! It looked like another MSD special until the last ball, but Parthiv Patel's direct hit sent the Chinnaswamy into a collective gasp. Dhoni's 84 not out off 48 balls which included seven huge sixers and five boundaries - his highest T20 score - could not get his team over the line.
Dale Steyn and Yuzvendra Chahal kept the CSK batting under check, but M.S. Dhoni single-handedly pulled off a chase after walking in at 28/4. The game looked super-over bound, but credit to Umesh Yadav- after being smashed by Dhoni - bowled a slower ball to make the CSK captain miss it.
SIX! Oh my word! Incredible hitting from Dhoni. He pulls his flat six over the deep midwicket boundary. He runs two off the next ball. 2 needed off 1.
SIX! Fuller-length, wide outside off and Dhoni hits over long-off for a six. 10 needed off 3 balls.
OUT OF THE PARK! Another short ball this time a bit slower and Dhoni bludgeons it for a 111-metre six which flies over the stands.
FOUR! A short ball from Umesh Yadav and Dhoni pulls it away for a four over square-leg.
CAUGHT BEHIND! Saini bowls a bouncer and Bravo slashes hard but only gets an edge. Parthiv Patel leaps into the air to take a smart catch. CSK needs 26 runs off 6 balls.
Dhoni hits it to long-off but sends back Bravo at the other end. However, he hits the ball in the same area and runs a single off the penultimate ball.
SIX+NO-BALL! Dhoni upper-cuts Saini for a six over third-man and the umpire calls for no-ball. Dhoni and Bravo run for a two off the free-hit. CSK needs 27 off 9 balls.
SIX! Fifty for Dhoni. A slow ball banged short outside offstump and Dhoni brings his powerful bottom into play to smoke it over wide long-on for a six. He brings up his fifty in 35 balls (4x4, 3x6). CSK needs 38 runs off 13 balls.
RUN-OUT! A short-pitched ball by Navdeep Saini and Dhoni gets an inside edge which bounces off his pads. Jadeja is off, but it is too late for Dhoni to send him back. Saini comfortably knocks off the bails at the bowler's end. CSK 108/6 in 16.4 Overs.
SIX! A flighted ball from Chahal at fuller-length, right in the slot for Dhoni. The CSK skipper launches it into the sight screen for a massive six. CSK 105/5 in 16 Overs.
Stoinis gets very close to running out Ravindra Jadeja. Dhoni calls for a single after being unable to hit the ball on the legside and Stoinis is off for a running race against Jadeja. He kicks the ball, but misses narrowly. CSK 92/5 in 15 Overs.
BOWLED! Yuzvendra Chahal bowls one straight, Rayudu swings leg-side but the ball keeps low and hits his pad before dislodging the bails. It is the 14th wicket this season for Chahal, he is third in the race for the Purple cap behind Imran Tahir (16) and Kagiso Rabada (21). RCB gets the breakthrough. CSK 83/5 in 13.1 Overs.
FOUR! Rayudu dances down the pitch and slaps Umesh Yadav's short ball for a boundary over long-off. CSK 83/4 in 13 Overs.
SIX! Short ball from Umesh Yadav on the leg stump, Rayudu swings and connects it. The ball sails over wide long-on for a six. CSK 77/4 in 12.3 Overs.
SIX! Dhoni has launched Stoinis over deep extra cover for his first six of the night. CSK 66/4 after 11 Overs.
FOUR! Marcus Stoinis bowls on the pads and Dhoni's glances it for a four down fine-leg. CSK 53/4 in 9 Overs.
M.S. Dhoni walks in and quickly gets off the mark with a four over backward point. CSK 37/4 in 6.4 Overs.
JADHAV PERISHES! Kedar Jadhav tries to pull a short ball by Umesh Yadav and gets a top-edge. AB de Villiers at mid-off takes an easy catch. CSK 28/4 in 5.5 Overs.
GONE! Du Plessis hits Umesh Yadav's short-pitched ball miles in the air. AB de Villiers and Navdeep Saini clash over it, but the South African takes it safely. CSK 17/3 in 4 Overs.
LUCKY FAF! Du Plessis misses Umesh Yadav's good-length ball which keeps low. The ball grazes the stumps but the bails don't fall. Both the batsman and bowler look surprised. Kohli does not look happy either.
Run-out chance missed! No hat-trick for Steyn. He bowls outside offstump to Faf du Plessis who cuts it for a single. Du Plessis and Ambati Rayudu scamper for a single with the ball inside the circle. AB de Villiers has the ball and Du Plessis is miles away from the crease, but gets lucky as the throw misses the stumps. CSK 12/2 in 3 Overs.
WHAT A RIPPER! Steyn hurls a toecrusher which sneaks in between Suresh Raina's bat and pad to knock off his offstump. He is on a hat-trick. CSK 6/2 in 1 Overs.
STEYN STRIKES! This is what RCB has been missing this season. Steyn bowls an outswinger to Watson and gets a thick edge for an easy catch to Stoinis in the slip. CSK 6/1 in 0.5 Overs.
CHASE BEGINS! CSK openers Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson walk out for the chase. Dale Steyn opens the bowling with a single off the first ball.
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Royal Challengers Bangalore - 161/7 in 20 Overs. Parthiv Patel is the highest scorer with 53 off 37 balls (2x4, 4x6). Faf du Plessis has been brilliant in the field taking two catches and has assisted another -- a brilliant relay catch with Dhruv Shorey to dismiss Marcus Stoinis. Moeen Ali had a cameo at the end with 26 off 16 balls.
FOUR! Moeen Ali digs out a fuller-length ball from Bravo to guide it over the boundary. Bravo bowls a similar delivery and Ali gets under to send it over the line at third man. However, he hits it straight at Shardul Thakur at long-off on the penultimate ball of the innings.
NEGI OUT! The left-hander tries to clear the inner circle, but hits it straight at Rayudu at point. RCB 150/6 in 19 Overs.
OUTSTANDING! Marcus Stoinis almost hits a six straight down the ground, but Faf du Plessis combines with Dhruv Shorey to execute a brilliant relay catch. The South Africa keeps his eye on the ball and holds the ball mid-air. But seeing that he was falling over the rope, throws it to Kedar Jadhav. RCB 132/5 in 17 Overs.
READ | Blinders at the boundary: Best relay catches of the IPL
FIFTY FOR PARTHIV! It is the 13th IPL fifty for the keeper batsman. He flicks Bravo for a four over the deep-midwicket to bring up his fifty. He has shouldered the batting responsibility after Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers well. However, he hits the next ball straight to Shane Watson on the edge of the circle. RCB 124/4 in 16 Overs.
Parthiv tries to hit Dwyane Bravo's short-pitched ball straight down the ground, but is straight at his partner Marcus Stoinis, who has got some serious reflexes. The ball was headed straight towards his chest, but he manages it to palm it away. He looks fine after receiving some treatment.
SIX! Absolutely smoked it! Imrah Tahir bowls a short-pitched ball to Marcus Stoinis who hits over the square-leg boundary for a massive six. RCB 118/3 in 15 Overs. The home side looks set for a big total here.
FOUR! Dwayne Bravo is given the ball. He bowls a full-toss to Parthiv and the keeper-batsman hits it over extra-cover for a boundary. RCB 108/3 in 14 Overs.
OUT! Akshdeep Nath goes for a big hit over long-on but is not unable to get the distance. Faf du Plessis at the boundary takes a good catch. Second wicket for Jadeja. Marcus Stoinis is the next man in. RCB 100/3 in 13 Overs.
Parthiv Patel is batting beautifully today. He has gone after Tahir and Jadeja has been successful so far. He hits Jadeja for a two over mid-wicket. Ambati Rayudu, manages to hit the stumps with a direct throw from the boundary and manages to even break one of the bails.
SIX! Akshdeep Nath launches Jadeja for a six over mid-wicket. RCB 86/2 in 11 Overs
RCB's momentum has slowed down after the dismissal of AB de Villiers. There is clearly dew on the pitch as the ball is gripping off the surface. RCB 74/2 in 10 Overs.
Imran Tahir is in the attack! He is the tournament's second highest wicket-taker with 15 wickets six behind Kagiso Rabada of Delhi Capitals. Will he go on his victory lap celebration today?
ABD OUT! Ravindra Jadeja strikes in his first over. De Villiers is unable to hit a turning delivery pitched on the offstump and skies it. Faf du Plessis at the boundary judges it perfectly and takes the catch. RCB 58/2 in 7 Overs.
DROPPED! De Villiers tries to clear the circle over mid-off but Faf Du Plessis takes off and gets his hands to it, but the ball slips through. Shardul Thakur bowls on the pads and Parthiv Patel hits over the fine-leg boundary for a six. It is a replay of the final ball from Thakur's last over. De Villiers hits him for two more boundaries off the next two balls. RCB 49/1 in 6 Overs.
SIX! Good length ball on the middle stump, the ball keeps low and is in the slot for De Villiers! He swings it for a six over the mid-wicket. RCB 33/1 in 5 Overs.
FOUR! Shardul Thakur bowls a short-pitch ball to De Villiers which he misses. He goes for a similar line on the next ball and is hit straight down the ground for a four by the South African. Thakur goes for a short-pitch on the final ball and hit for a six over fine leg by Parthiv Patel. RCB 25/1 in 4 Overs.
KOHLI OUT! They've got him. Dhoni's plan pays off. Chahar once again bowls a short-pitched delivery wide outside offstump and Kohli edges it. Dhoni dives to his right to take a low catch behind the stumps. RCB 11/1 in 2.3 Overs.
Ouch! Parthiv tries to hit Shardul Thakur across the line and gets a knock in the ribcage. It was a similar delivery from Prasidh Krishna against KKR that took the wind out of his sails leading to his wicket off the next ball. Dhoni brings in a slip as his bowlers bowl outside the offstump for an outside edge. However, Kohli stands the crease and its cuts it to the third man boundary.
FOUR! Deepak Chahar bowls a good-length delivery on the pads and Kohli says thank you. He hits it for a boundary over square-leg. RCB 5/0 in 1 Over.
HERE WE GO! Parthiv Patel and Virat Kohli walk out to the middle. Deepak Chahar begins the proceedings with the new ball and its a dot.
Playing XIs
AB de Villiers and Umesh Yadav in || Heinrich Klassen and Mohammed Siraj out
M.S. Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo in || Sam Billings and Karn Sharma out
M.S. Dhoni wins the Toss, CSK will bowl first.
Few more minutes to the Toss...
UPDATE: M.S. Dhoni is seen hitting the nets ahead of the tie albeit for few minutes.
There are things that RCB has to fix if it is win against a strong CSK side for its first home win. WATCH the preview for today's match by Ayan Acharya.
Read the preview by our correspondent Shreedutta Chidananda:
Table-topper CSK in the way of RCB's first home win
It felt great, Virat Kohli admitted at the presentation ceremony in Kolkata on Friday, that he didn't have to do the losing captain's post-match interview as he walked off the field. Royal Challengers Bangalore appeared to have grown accustomed to failure but that 10-run win at Eden Gardens -- only the second of the Indian Premier League season -- will have lifted spirits in the camp. Even if qualification for the playoffs is unlikely, RCB will aim -- as the captain keeps insisting -- to enjoy the rest of the tournament.
READ | Winning without Dhoni is difficult, says Fleming
Up next for Kohli's men is a meeting with Chennai Super Kings at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday. The defending champion arrives in the city fresh off a rare defeat -- only the campaign's second -- in Hyderabad. Its batsmen were strangled, and later its bowlers simply wilted in the face of David Warner's assault. There were suggestions that the team, with qualification for the playoffs more or less certain, was complacent, and it will be interesting to see how CSK's players respond.
M.S. Dhoni did not feature against SRH, having been rested with a back spasm, while Dwayne Bravo has been out of action since April 3 owing to a hamstring strain. Both players trained on match-eve; a decision on their participation would be made on Sunday, coach Stephen Fleming said.
RCB, meanwhile, has injury concerns of its own. A.B. de Villiers missed the last game with a concussion; the team is hopeful he will recover in time for this fixture. The South African's absence did not seem to trouble the side against KKR, though. Kohli led from the front with a hundred , exploding after a scratchy start, while Moeen Ali provided a stunning injection of life in the middle order, scoring a 28-ball-66.
RCB bludgeoned 91 off the last five overs in Kolkata, but repeating such a performance against one of the league's best bowling attacks will be far from easy. Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar and Ravindra Jadeja have been frugal and incisive this season and will test batsmen on most surfaces. RCB's own bowling was not particularly convincing on Friday but Dale Steyn's addition made a difference, as the South African struck twice in the Powerplay overs.
RCB has no room for error after seven defeats while CSK can afford to relax. But their clash should be no less entertaining for that reason.
Match starts at 8 PM IST.
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