On Friday, March 28, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Chepauk’s M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, ending a 17-year drought. In their second game at the location in 18 Indian Premier League (IPL) seasons, RCB won the Southern Derby by a margin of 50 runs.
There were some bright spots for Chennai on the individual front, as their star player, MS Dhoni, surpassed Suresh Raina’s record to become the franchise’s all-time top scorer. Noor Ahmad, their left-arm spinner, also managed to win the Purple Cap after taking seven wickets in his first two games. Even though Ravindra Jadeja bowled brilliantly (2 for 36), RCB was able to produce a higher-than-average total in the first innings.
Talking Points
1. RCB’s middle-order no more a problem
RCB batted first after Chennai captain Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and elected to field first. Phil Salt (32 off 16) gave a thunderous start, before Noor got the better of him. His opening partner and star batter Virat Kohli looked at discomfort throughout his 30-ball stay in the middle, where he scored only 31 runs.
Devdutt Padikkal chipped in with a brisk cameo, while skipper Rajat Patidar was the hero of the first innings with a solid half-century. Tim David rocketed the finishing blows, as the visitors posted 196/7 at the end of 20 overs.
2. Chennai’s Kohi’Noor’ from Afghanistan
Right as Salt was looking dangerous, CSK introduced Noor Ahmad into the attack and the Afghan spinner produced his brilliance instantly, striking with the wickets of both the openers. In his four overs, the overseas spinner bagged three wickets while also keeping the flow of runs in check.
Wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma, who made 12 off 6, became the third victim of Noor at Chepauk. This was his seventh scalp of the season, courtesy of which, he currently has most wickets in the 2025 season of the cash-rich league so far.
3. RCB are table-toppers!
With two consecutive wins against defending champions KKR and five-time champions Chennai, RCB now find themselves at the top with four points and a net run-rate (NRR) of 2.266 on the IPL 2025 Points Table. Their next fixture is against 2022 champions Gujarat Titans, which is also going to be their first game at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru – their home ground. Captain Patidar would want to lead by example and help the team bag yet another win to maintain dominance in the upcoming game as well.
Who Said What?
Ruturaj Gaikwad, CSK captain, said
I still feel 170 was a par score on this wicket. It wasn’t that easy to bat. Bad fielding cost us. When you’re chasing 170, you have a little more time, but when you’re chasing 20 runs extra you have to bat differently in the powerplay and it didn’t happen today. It got a little slower, it got a little sticky. The new ball was sticking a bit. Don’t know how it happened.
Rahul backed his shot, I backed mine as well, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. But as I said when you have a par score in mind and you are chasing 20 extra you always want to stay ahead. So that was just the thinking. But at the end we didn’t lose by a big margin, it was just 50 runs.
Definitely a different scenario when you have three world class spinners in the team. You want new batters to face them. It didn’t happen this time, we dropped catches and boundaries kept coming and they kept going and the momentum didn’t stop till the last over. There’s a long flight to Guwahati but we just have to turn up mentally and see which are the areas we can improve. I feel the fielding has to improve a lot and we have to come back stronger in the fielding department.
Rajat Patidar, RCB captain and Player of the Match
If I talk about this match, it was a good total on this surface because ball was stopping a bit and it wasn’t easy for batters to hit fours and sixes. [On winning in Chennai] It’s always special playing in Chepauk because of the fans, the way they support their teams. [On his innings] I think it was very important because we were targeting 200 because that wouldn’t be easy to chase. My goal was clear that as long as I was there, I would maximise every ball.
[On bowling changes] This track was pretty helpful for spinners so I was just keeping it in my mind that I could use my spinners at the early stage. Especially Livingstone, the way he came in and bowled four overs was incredible. [On Hazlewood] It was game-changing because we got two-three wickets in first six overs. Amazing to see how they kept it on the hard length because the ball wasn’t coming on to the bat easily.
![[WATCH] IPL 2025: Mukesh Choudhary cleans Prabhsimran Singh for a duck](https://cricketmood.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Watch-Mukesh-Choudhary-destroys-Prabhsimran-Singh-s-stumps-for-a-duck-with-a-beauty.jpg "[WATCH] IPL 2025: Mukesh Choudhary cleans Prabhsimran Singh for a duck 4")
India
