IPL 2023: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings Match 24 – Talking Points and Who Said What?

Chennai Super Kings. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) narrowly won the thrilling contest by three runs against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Monday, April 17. Notably, as many as 444 runs were scored in the clash as RCB put up a tough fight in the high-scoring chase.

With this, CSK earned their third win of the season off their five games thus far. On the other hand, RCB will look to get back to winning ways when they face Punjab Kings in their next assignment on Thursday, April 20.

Here are the Talking points of the RCB vs CSK clash-

Conway-Rahane-Dube set up humongous first innings score

Opener Devon Conway swiftly hit the ground running as he got the required boundaries right from the beginning of the contest. However, he took a back seat momentarily after Ajinkya Rahane joined him at the crease. Rahane too got into the mix quickly and hammered to score a quickfire 37 runs off 20 balls. 

Soon after his dismissal, southpaw Shivam Dube took charge along with Conway as the duo combined for a massive 80-run partnership. Dube scored runs mostly with the maximums as concluded his knock with five to his name and two boundaries, scoring 52 runs off 27 balls. Conway too continued to get big runs for his side as he scored 83 runs to help setup a humongous first innings score of 226 runs.

Maxwell-Faf unleash carnage during chase

Following the early dismissal of Kohli for just six runs, Glenn Maxwell and skipper Faf du Plessis needed to hand RCB the required runs to keep the chase steady. Without wasting much time, du Plessis and Maxwell smashed the rival bowling unit and got 75 runs in six overs. 

Despite MS Dhoni trying to bring in the spinners into the attack, Maxwell and Faf continued to smash and notched up their fifties in 24 and 23 balls respectively. The two batters raised a sensational 126 runs off mere 61 balls which helped them claw their way back into the contest.

CSK hold their nerves to earn two points

Just when RCB were eyeing a potential win with the duo of Maxwell and Faf getting the big runs, it was Maheesh Theekshana who provided the breakthrough to get the former. This was followed by Moeen Ali getting du Plessis in the very next over for 62 runs off 33 balls. 

CSK kept getting the breakthroughs despite the cameo by Dinesh Karthik (28 off 14) and Suyash Prabhudessai (19 off 11). With the pressure mounting, the yellow brigade prevailed, thereby winning the match by three runs.

Losing Skipper, Faf du Plessis said:

Early on while fielding, I thought I just winded my rib but as the innings went on I felt discomfort. I tried to avoid taking my shirt off but had to do it in the end, sorry boys. I thought we batted perfectly. The last five overs were set up well, I thought DK would clinch it but those lost four overs we let it slip. At the toss, I said 200 was par, it was 10-15 too many, We went over the short boundary, off Dube. It was just one of those wickets where you bowl the first few balls and go, ‘this is a great wicket.’ In the end, it was about minimising the big overs under 20 while bowling. Will tell the boys to take this in stride and move on. Personally, I got stiff and lost some power. I’d have liked to have gone harder in the middle period. I tried but couldn’t keep up. 

Winning Skipper, MS Dhoni said:

“When you come here, you know it’s a wicket and there is dew in the early part of the IPL. You want to get extra runs but you want to keep it as a thought You want to start well and then look to alter [to reach] what you have in your mind. I feel the wicket was slightly tacky to start off, the first 2-3 overs the fast bowlers get a bit of help. So you want to go through that and then look to accelerate and maybe look to get a par score, not par plus and end up at 165-170. We kept it simple and tried to get as much as possible. Dube is a clean hitter, yes, he has an issue with the fast bowlers but is a tall guy with a different (longer) reach when compared to other batters. So the spinners have to adjust their lengths, and we had plans for him. But he was injured when he came for the camp. He needs to believe that he can score runs in the middle overs more than us because he has the talent and once you cross the ropes you’re alone. Whenever you score 220, the batsmen have to keep on hitting. It’s a matter of few overs in the middle. If Faf and Maxi had continued, they’d have won by the 18th over, so you need to get engrossed with the process, know what is the bowling change, what can I do from which end, what is really happening, if something has really changed. I can see it better from closeby, so I can know if there is deflection off the wicket for the spinners or quicks. I am always involved in what needs to be done. If I can provide bowlers a good field and give nice suggestions, that’s a win for me. Handling youngsters at the death is a difficult challenge because there is a lot of pressure, especially with the dew. They are working very hard. So they need to know the process, know what they’re doing. Bravo is a specialist, under him bowlers will gain confidence, he will give them alternate plans. I feel overall it is a team game, and the coaches guide us to what is our strength. We keep on saying, ‘whatever your strength is, keep working at that.’ What you need to say is you get hit on a good plan than start bowling on a bad plan. The differentiation needs to be there.”

Player of the Match, Devon Conway said:

Been very happy with the way things went tonight. My recipe is simple: play good cricket shots. Don’t wanna be too predictable, so will try to hit bowlers off their lengths. It’s my second year for CSK, the supporters are loyal. Makes it lot better with MS in the team too.