CHENNAI: Defending champions Chennai Super Kings pulled off a miraculous last-ball victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore after being on the backfoot for a majority of the contest at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, yesterday, and proved yet again that they’re not to be underestimated on their home turf at one’s own peril. Daniel Vettori elected to bat and Bangalore piled on a mammoth 205-8. Chennai began their chase in a hurry, as Faf du Plessis 71  (46b, 5×4, 4×6), Suresh Raina 23 (14b, 3×4, 1×6) and M.S. Dhoni 41 (24b, 1×4, 2×6) kept them in the hunt, with the asking rate surging beyond the initial ten runs-per over mark.
Bangalore gradually tightened the screws and the equation read 43 to get in two overs when Dhoni got out.
The visiting team were rank favourites as Virat Kohli came on for the 19th over. Albie Morkel, who had walked in at the skipper’s dismissal, changed the complexion of the match in the space of six deliveries. Kohli’s over read 4, 6, 4, 6, 2, 6, as Morkel massacred the part-timer for 28 runs, bringing the requirement down to 15 from the last over, to be bowled by Vinay Kumar.
Vinay conceded a single on the first ball, dismissed Morkel on the second, and once again the momentum swung Bangalore’s way. But with 14 to get in four deliveries, Dwayne Bravo, now on strike, did not disappoint.
He top-edged a waist-high no-ball to the fence, clubbed a six off a full-toss and stole a single – bringing Chennai to within one hit of the target.
Ravindra Jadeja faced the last ball of the match with his team needing a couple, and the $2 million purchase edged a chancy boundary to third-man to deliver an unlikely five-wicket win from an almost impossible position. It was unfortunate that Muttiah Muralitharan, who bowled his four overs for just 21 amid the destruction and also cleaned up Chennai’s top three batters, ended up on the losing side.
Earlier, a 109-run stand in 11 overs between Chris Gayle and Kohli took Bangalore to 205. This rematch of the 2011 IPL final began with Mayank Agrawal making clear his intent. He took boundaries off R. Ashwin  – who had opened the bowling – and Bollinger. Agrawal was dropped on 16 by the left-arm paceman off Ashwin and he made Chennai pay for the lapse, striking sixes off Ashwin and Bollinger as Bangalore raced to 50 in the fifth over.
Agrawal totally outshone Gayle in their 53-run opening stand, as the West Indian contributed just six to the association.
Having begun the season with two losses in three matches – as against Bangalore’s one apiece record – Chennai would have hoped for its battery of spinners to choke the flow of runs and give them an opening in the game. As it happened, the bowlers failed miserably.
Agrawal top-edged Morkel to mid-on, leaving the stage to Gayle and Kohli. The West Indian, who had at that stage scored a boundary-less 11 in as many balls, went berserk when Suresh Raina was introduced.
Three sixes, all over long-on, ruined Raina’s first over, and then it was the turn of Shadab Jakati, who was also despatched right over and beyond the leg-side, the second hit bringing up Gayle’s fifty in 27 balls.
The grin that spread across Gayle’s face each time he clobbered a bowler indicated how much he was enjoying batting. A century looked on the cards, but Ravindra Jadeja came on to bowl and got rid of the West Indian.
Kohli, who had struggled with his timing, got into the act in the 18th over – bowled by Morkel. A pull over mid-wicket, a scampered two – to bring up his fifty – and another savage heave over the boundary, and Kohli had brought Bangalore to the brink of 200.
The final over, however, was anti-climactic. The visitors lost four wickets – three to Bollinger, one to a run-out – and it took Vinay’s last-ball six to heave Bangalore to 205, the highest total of IPL-V, which proved insufficient in the face of Morkel’s unbelievable hitting at the fag end of Chennai’s chase. (Yahoo Sport)