An incredible final over from Yash Dayal and Romario Shepherd’s late batting blitz helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru scrape past Chennai Super Kings by two runs in an IPL thriller to move top of the table on Saturday.
In-form Virat Kohli, who made 62, and fellow opener Jacob Bethell put on 97 runs to lay the foundations of Bengaluru’s 213-5 in their home at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
West Indies’ Shepherd boosted the total with his 14-ball 53 — the IPL’s second fastest fifty. The quickest 50 is in 13 balls by Yashasvi Jaiswal in 2023.
Chennai’s 17-year-old opener Ayush Mhatre attempted to trump the effort as he blasted 94 off 48 balls as part of a 114-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja, who hit 77 not out, but the team finished on 211-5.
Left-arm medium pace bowler Dayal kept his calm in the last over when Chennai needed 15 to win.
He sent back skipper M.S. Dhoni and despite getting hit for six by impact player Shivam Dube off a no-ball, he gave away just 12 runs as Bengaluru moved closer to a play-off spot.
“I felt I should have converted a couple of more shots, and ease the pressure, so I will take the blame for it,” said the 43-year-old Dhoni.
“Shepherd in the death overs was excellent – whatever we were bowling, he was able to hit it for maximum runs.”
Shepherd, who hit six sixes, tore into Khaleel Ahmed in the 19th over to smack 33 runs off the left-arm pace bowler and then got the team 21 runs in the 20th.
Red-hot Kohli
Player of the match Shepherd said: “I had my opportunity today, was waiting for it for a long time. Wanted to give the team a good finish.”
Five-time champions Chennai, who are already out of the play-off race, slumped to their ninth defeat in 11 matches to stay rock bottom of the 10-team standings.
Mhatre, who made his IPL debut for Chennai last month, registered his first fifty and went on to hit nine fours and five sixes.
Fast bowler Lungi Ngidi denied Mhatre a century and struck next ball to trap fellow South African Dewald Brevis for a duck, but the hat-trick was avoided by Dhoni, who made 12.
The left-handed Jadeja stood firm but Bengaluru’s disciplined bowling including Dayal’s final over heroics steered the team to their eighth win as they hunt for their first IPL title.
England left-hander Bethell scored his first half-century for Bengaluru before Kohli struck his seventh fifty this season, leading the batting chart with 505 runs in 11 innings.
Bethell set the pace in the first over when he hit Ahmed for three successive boundaries and made the most of a dropped catch on 27 to reach his fifty with a four.
Bethell finally fell to Sri Lankan pace bowler Matheesha Pathirana after his 33-ball knock, but Kohli kept up the charge and raised his fifty.
England left-arm pace bowler Sam Curran cut short Kohli’s knock after which the bowlers attempted to pull things back with three wickets until Shepherd exploded in the final two overs.
