Bangalore, India: Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Chennai Super Kings by a single run in a thrilling Indian Premier League (IPL) match here on Sunday.
Chasing a target of 162, CSK had a very penurious start as they lost the wickets of Shane Watson and Suresh Raina in the very first over bowled by Dale Steyn.
The fall of wickets did not stop as CSK soon lost Faf du Plessis and Kedar Jadhav.
After six overs, CSK were 32 for the loss of four wickets. Skipper MS Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu then put on a crucial 55-run partnership. Rayudu scored 29 runs off the same amount of deliveries before he became a victim of Yuzvendra Chahal's delivery.
Ravindra Jadeja then joined the skipper and both played steadily. But due to a lack of coordination between the two, Jadeja was run out.
Dwayne Bravo joined Dhoni and stitched a 25-run partnership. Dhoni's unbeaten knock of 84 runs was unable to clinch the match for his side as they fell one run short.
Earlier, RCB were put in to bat and they faced an early blow as Virat Kohli, who scored a century in the previous game, was caught behind the stumps.
AB de Villiers then joined Parthiv Patel and stitched a 47-run partnership.
De Villiers, who scored 25 runs, was sent back to the pavilion by Jadeja.
Akshdeep Nath then joined Patel, who scored a half-century and both players added 41 runs to the board before Jadeja got hold of Nath (24).
Marcus Stoinis then added 25 more runs to the board with Patel, who then became a victim of Bravo.
Moeen Ali also played a decent inning of 26 runs which included five boundaries and helped his side set a respectable total of 162 for the visitors.
RCB will now host Kings XI Punjab on April 24 while CSK will host Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 23.
Brief score: Royal Challengers Bangalore (Parthiv Patel 53, Moeen Ali 26, Deepak Chahar 2-25) defeated Chennai Super Kings (MS Dhoni 84*, Ambati Rayudu 29, Dale Steyn 2-29) by one run.