An encounter between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 5th season of the Indian Premier League left India’s current skipper with wounds which, to this day, have not been healed.
Powered by opener Chris Gayle (68) and Virat Kohli (57), the home team boasted a stupendous total of 205/8 in 20 overs. Despite a perfect start from Faf du Plessis (44-ball 71 runs laced with five fours and four sixes), CSK looked in trouble at one stage after losing the wicket of skipper MS Dhoni to Zaheer Khan in the 18th over.
The visitors needed 43 off the final two overs with all-rounders Albie Morkel and Dwayne Bravo at the crease. Skipper Daniel Vettori’s decision which he regrets till date. The decision which shocked fans and the cricket fraternity was to hand the penultimate over to part-timer Virat Kohli instead of regular bowler Raju Bhatkal who went for 35 runs in his two-over spell.
The South African all-rounder took complete advantage of the situation to turn things around for the ‘men in yellow’ as he smashed 28 runs off the six deliveries bowled by Kohli. The over read: 4,6,4,6,2 & 6.
After that expensive over, the equation was brought down to 15 runs in the final over. Morkel was dismissed by R Vinay Kumar on the second ball of the 20th over, but that did not stop CSK from chasing the total with Dwayne Bravo hitting a six and four to leave Ravindra Jadeja to score two runs off the final delivery.
The southpaw edged Kumar’s delivery outside off for a boundary to seal two points for CSK. Du Plessis was adjourned as the man of the match for his aggressive batting in the front.