23 April,2015 12:11 AM IST | | Agencies
Suresh Raina's brilliant half century and Ashish Nehra's dream spell sees Chennai Super Kings demolish Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium
Bangalore: Skipper Virat Kohli's 42-ball 51 was not enough for Royal Challengers Bangalore to pull off what would have been a sensational win over Chennai Super Kings in an Indian Premier League match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here tonight.
Chasing CSK's 181-8 in 20 overs, the hosts could manage only 154-8 as Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team romped to their fourth successive win in the T20 tournament with a thumping 27-run victory.
Kohli's innings included four boundaries and two sixes, but his dismissal effectively ended Bangalore's hopes.
All-rounder David Wiese (22) hits a few lusty blows, but it was too little, to late. Dwayne Bravo has him caught by Smith at deep cover off the last ball of the innings.
Ashish Nehra was CSK's star bowler, finishing with brilliant figures of 4-0-10-4.
Chennai Super Kings' Ashish Nehra celebrates after claiming the wicket of Rilee Rossouw during IPL 8 against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Bengaluru on Wednesday. Pic/PTI
Earlier, Raina struck a blistering 32-ball 62 to help Chennai Super Kings post a challenging 181 for eight.
Put into bat after a 25-minute rain-delayed start, Chennai rode on Raina's brilliant attacking half-century and his 54-run quickfire partnership from just four overs for the third wicket with his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (13).
Chennai lost a bit of momentum in between with quick dismissals of Raina, Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja (8) but they still scored 181 for eight with Faf du Plessis remaining not out on 33 from 18 deliveries.
Chennai were 81 for two at the halfway mark and added exactly 100 in the next 10 overs. Opener Dwayne Smith made a handy contribution of 39 from 29 balls.
Raina came in at the fall of other opener Brendon McCullum (4) in the second over and after settling down, he set the Chinnaswamy Stadium on fire with some lusty blows all over the park. He hit four boundaries and six sixes in his 32-ball knock.
Raina struck three sixes off successive deliveries in the 13th over bowled by leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. He reached to his fifty with the first six of the over in the second ball and then followed up with two more.
But Raina was out while trying for one big hit too many as he holed out to Rilee Rossouw at long off in the fifth ball of the 13th over.
Chennai then lost Dhoni and Jadeja in quick succession -- in the 15th and 16th overs. Dwayne Bravo (5) and Ravichandran Ashwin (5) also did not last long but du Plessis held one end together to take his side to a challenging total.
For Bangalore, Chahal was the most successful bowler by grabbing three wickets though he conceded 40 runs in his four overs. Iqbal Abdulla took two wickets while Mitchell Starc, Harshal Patel and David Wiese got a wicket each.
