Ruturaj Gaikwad scored an unbeaten fifty while Sam Curran picked three wickets as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by eight wickets in Match 44 of the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

Needing to score 147 to win the match, CSK were quick off the blocks as Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad scored at a brisk pace. Faf hit a six and a four off Chris Morris in the second over. Gaikwad then creamed a six over long-off in the next over bowled by Washington Sundar.

Mohammed Siraj was introduced in the attack in the fourth over and the CSK openers went after the pacer, teaming up to hit two fours and a six.

The two took CSK to 46/0 at the end of five overs. But the partnership was broken in the final over of the powerplay after Faf was caught by Siraj off Morris’ bowling.

Gaikwad was joined by Ambati Rayudu in the middle and the two made sure that CSK continued to keep the scorecard ticking. Rayudu hit two fours and a six in the 9th and 10th overs while Gaikwad creamed one more six as CSK moved past 80.

A couple of overs later, the duo completed a 50-run stand and pushed CSK past hundred.

While Gaikwad went on to notch up his maiden IPL fifty in the IPL, the partnership was broken in the 14th over after Yuzvendra Chahal got Rayudu out for.

MS Dhoni hit two fours in the first seven balls he faced before Gaikwad closed out the game in style, hitting a six, as CSK sealed an eight-wicket win with 8 balls to spare.

Earlier, RCB, who elected to bat, brought in Moeen Ali in place of Isuru Udana while CSK made two changes as Mitchell Santer and Monu Kumar Singh, who made his IPL debut, replaced Josh Hazlewood and Shardul Thakur in the playing XI.

Aaron Finch made a cracking start as the right-hander hit two fours off Deepak Chahar in the first over and followed it up with one more in the second over bowled by Monu Kumar Singh. Devdutt Padikkal cranked a six in the third over as RCB moved to 26/0.

Sam Curran, who was introduced into the attack in the fourth over, then gave CSK their first breakthrough as he dismissed Finch. While RCB reached 46/1 in the powerplay, they lost their second wicket in the next over after Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad pulled off an excellent relay catch near long-on.

AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli – the two pillars of RCB’s batting unit – joined forces.

The two, like they have done so many times in the past, continued to keep the scoreboard ticking, hitting occasional boundaries and brought up the fifty-run stand in the 14th over.

The 68-ball 82-run stand though was broken when AB de Villiers, who scored 39 off 36 balls, was holed out at long on by Faf du Plessis off Deepak Chahar’s bowling.

While Virat Kohli, who had earlier hit his 200th IPL six, brought up his third half-century of the season, he and Moeen Ali got out in the 19th over as Curran bowled a two-wicket over. Chahar picked his second wicket of the match as CSK restricted RCB to 146/5.

Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings 150/2 (Ruturaj Gaikwad 65*, Ambati Rayudu 39; Yuzvendra Chahal 1/21) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 146/5 (Virat Kohli 50, AB de Villiers 39; Sam Curran 3/19) by eight wickets