Rival captains Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli expressed their dissatisfaction over the slowness of the Chepauk track as the opening IPL encounter turned out to be damp squib. While RCB were out for 70 in 17.1 overs, CSK scored the runs in 17.4 overs and Dhoni made it clear that he would expect better wickets in the coming games. “We were really surprised by how slow the wicket was. It reminded me of a Champions League wicket in 2011 after we won the IPL. The wicket definitely needs to be much better, even with dew it was spinning big,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation. Kohli, who is also the Indian captain, on his part said: “The wicket looked much better than it played. We thought 140-150 would be an ideal score. A scrappy sort of start but either team would have struggled batting first.” ALSO READ: IPL 2019, CSK vs RCB - Turning Point: Dhoni bowls Harbhajan out in the first eight overs Dhoni, who had correctly assessed the track at the toss said that any genuine spinner will do well on this track. “80, 90, 100 is really low-scoring and if you have geniune spinners in your line-up you can create a lot of trouble. We need to score runs as well, ours is a batting attack where batsmen like to play their shots and you can’t control the toss which means that we might have to bowl first in matches as well,” Dhoni said. “Other teams have good spinners as well and this isn’t the pitch we are looking forward to,” the CSK skipper added. For Kohli, the relief was that a match like this happened at the start of the tournament. “No one wants to start like this, but it’s good to get a game like this out of the way - this early in the tournament. We spoke of trying to be in the game, taking it to the 18th over was nice to see,” the RCB captain said. “The batting wasn’t good, it wasn’t easy to bat on, looked much better surface though, I thought 140-150 would have been an ideal score, especially with dew expected later on. A scrappy start to the league, but I don’t think either team had control over it, the pitch was under the covers for 4 days, but we should have batted better, 110-120 would have been a fighting score,” he said.<doc-sep>CSK spinners led charge as hosts prevailed on top of RCB at Chepauk | Photo Credit: PTI In the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 opener, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) took on Royal Challengers Bangalore which was looked upon as a faceoff between India's dynamic leaders in MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli respectively. It was expected to be a blockbuster clash. However, CSK defied odds and romped past the opponents in a one-sided encounter to emerge on top by 7 wickets with 14 balls to spare. Chasing a paltry 71, CSK openers Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu came out to bat. The sluggish and slow nature of the track tested the duo as well, but they kept their nerves with a small total in hand. RCB's Yuvzendra Chahal kept it tight and created pressure to send back Watson for a duck. At No. 3, CSK's 'Chinna Thala' came out to bat. With only 15 away from entering the 5000-run club, the left-hander stormed past the landmark and became the first to reach the milestone. He was targetted with few short deliveries but fell while taking on Moeen Ali for 19. The rest of the formality was completed by Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja. Jadhav came in at No. 5 and stayed till the end without trying to do anything silly. Rayudu looked assured of the nature of the surface and played out time to take CSK to safe shores before perishing ahead of the winning runs. Despite the shabby batting performance, RCB would take a lot from the contest courtesy their tidy bowling and fielding efforts. RCB stretched the game beyond 15 overs courtesy the spin duo of Chahal and Moeen. The pair leaked only 25 runs combined in the 8 overs among them and accounted for a wicket each. Navdeep Saina and Umesh Yadav, too, hurried the batsmen with their pace but the total proved to be too easy for the hosts. CSK, who managed to play only a solitary game at home last year, won the toss and elected to bowl. Skipper Dhoni wasn't sure about the nature of the pitch and trusted his bowlers to make early amends. The same happened as RCB's struggles commenced as soon as the match progressed. While Deepak Chahar kept it tight, Harbhajan Singh responded with an outstanding spell wherein he finished with 3 for 20. He was complimented by Imran Tahir (3 for 9) and Ravindra Jadeja (2 for 15) as RCB were clueless in front of the trio's spin, drift and disciplined line and lengths. This also becomes CSK's seventh consecutive win over RCB in the IPL. While CSK will be on the road now to play Delhi Capitals (DC) on March 26, RCB will meet Mumbai Indians (MI) at home in M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on March 28 (Thursday).<doc-sep>Fans couldn't have asked for a better start to Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 as defending champions Chennai Super Kings take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in Saturday's opening match. Led by the two of the biggest names in Indian cricket, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli facing off serves as just the right appetizer for the tournament's main course. The Kohli-Dhoni promos are all over television ad space but with a touch of soft banter and not in your face bravado. Might as well with the kind of respect Dhoni commands in Virat Kohli-led Indian playing XI. But Virat Kohli won't be able to seek MS Dhoni's counsel in IPL. On the contrary, Kohli needs to come up with strategies to better his senior compatriot and help RCB begin the season on a high. Both heavyweights employ completely contrasting styles in captaincy. The contrast in their leadership styles is like fire and ice. "They are two different style of players. Two different personalities. Goes to show to find a successful captain in terms of results, there are a quite a few ways you can go about it," Kumara Sangakkara tells India Today speaking at the Star Sports Select Dugout. "Both are fantastic players. Fantastic individuals. Great captains. Dhoni likes to take a backseat and trusts his players to do the job that they are selected in the team for. Even in a crunch situation he does not over-complicate it. "Kohli on the other hand, almost bats and bowls for his players because he is that much invested in that particular moment. But it's going to be an interesting matchup for both the sides opening up. It's never going to be an easy game," Sangakkara observes. Does captain Kohli emotional investment proves counter productive? Is that one of the reasons, he has been unable to lead RCB to IPL glory? "It seems to have worked for India. They have won series in Australia recently. They have been strong at home, although they did lose to Australia recently because because of some individual brilliance from some Australian players. But overall the last two years have been incredible journey for the Indian side," Sangakkara added. "So at the international level Kohli has been very successful. He now needs to transfer that at IPL level," he states. That's where captain Virat Kohli has found it a lot tougher than he has leading India with a richer resource pool. RCB finished eighth and sixth in the last two editions while they finished runners-up in 2016 when Kohli scored nearly 1000 runs himself. "It's a whole different ball game because it's a mash of different cultures with players around the world and it really tests your man management skills. Also your ability to trust and never second guess why you have selected that player in the first place," says Sangakkara. Meanwhile, former Australia cricketer Dean Jones feels Kohli simply doesn't have the squad to win in this format. "I look at it from a coaching perspective. They have got their selections wrong. In terms of what it takes to win a championship and I always believe you need a bowling line up than a batting lines up. RCB thinks we need a lot of batters and runs will win you games," Jones tells India Today. "Actually it does not work that way a lot. They have had a few problems with injuries and the way their ground plays has changed as well over the years. But in my opinion you need bowling and they have been a bit too top heavy with their batting." Kohli's opposing skipper in the tournament opener MS Dhoni for all his success, had also begun to face criticism towards the end of his India captaincy that he was past his shelf life. After helping CSK win another IPL title last year, Dhoni was able to blow the criticism away. "Part of that is because he has put a lot of work on his fitness. He was not a big believer in gym not long ago and physiotherapists and the work they can do. That has changed and a lot of it is because of Virat Kohli and the way he has pulled everybody up in that Indian side and the standards he has demanded. With MS, his game is always outstanding. He is a natural athlete and so he has relied on that. Now that he is putting that work in it toward the back end of his career, he is still getting those results," Dhoni's former CSK teammate Scott Styris says. "Some fans in the public arena thought Dhoni's time has come and gone but I don't think the players and commentators thought that way one little bit. He was always respected and feared." Whoever wins on Saturday and whether either of the two giants can last the distance in this edition, with the World Cup round the corner, the IPL presents a perfect opportunity for Dhoni to sharpen his batting touch and Virat to further hone his captaincy skills.<doc-sep>MS Dhoni is well known for his proficiency with the Decision Review System (DRS) and thanks to his brilliant decisions overs the years, many fans have dubbed it the ‘Dhoni Review System’. The brilliance was in full flow once again on Saturday during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 match between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore when he aced a review to get rid of Navdeep Saini. Imran Tahir trapped Saini in front of the wicket and the entire team went up in loud appeal. The umpire said not out but Tahir kept making his case to the skipper. MS Dhoni took his time in deciding whether to take the DRS or not and with just one second remaining in the counter, went for the review. READ: Royal Challengers Bangalore register unwanted record against Chennai Super Kings The replay show that the ball was hitting Saini’s pads just outside the off-stump but he had edged the ball which was taken by Shane Watson in the slip. As a result, Saini was given out by the umpire. Later, he took another review when Ravindra Jadeja though that he has trapped Parthiv Patel LBW. However, Dhoni straight away told the bowler that it was not out and the DRS supported his views. This was probably the first time they had a shot clock in place for DRS in IPL & fittingly Dhoni, in his own inimitable style took it down to the wire before calling for the review 😂 pic.twitter.com/rhEv49N5xr — Arjun Ashok (@arj_90) March 24, 2019 Batting first, RCB were bowled out for 70 in 17.1 overs in which Parthiv Patel top scored with 29 off 35 balls. Harbhajan Singh (3/20 in 4 overs), Tahir (3/9 in 3 overs) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/15 in 4 overs) did the damage for the hosts.In reply, CSK scored the runs in 17.4 overs with Ambati Rayudu scoring 28.<doc-sep>
The Chennai Super Kings got off to the perfect start in IPL 2019 with a seven-wicket victory against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai on Saturday. The match was almost done and dusted when RCB were reduced to 39/4 at the end of the eighth over and it was all thanks to a brilliant effort by Harbhajan Singh. The off-spinner, who mostly focuses on the IPL, finished with figures of 3/20 in his four overs. ((Full Scorecard)) It was a masterstroke by MS Dhoni to bowl Harbhajan Singh out in the first eight overs. The 38-year-old took up the challenge to bowl with the new ball and made an impact in his second over when he dismissed the dangerous Virat Kohli. The off-spinner made use of the slow wicket and picked the wicket of Moeen Ali in his next over as well. The Englishman misjudged a delivery and presented a catch back to Harbhajan in the sixth over. ALSO READ: IPL 2019, CSK vs RCB at Chepauk, Highlights: Jadhav, Jadeja guide Chennai to seven-wicket win Harbhajan Singh couldn’t believe his luck when Imran Tahir dropped a catch off AB de Villiers’ bat in the eighth over, but in the very next ball, Ravindra Jadeja pulled off a sensational catch to dismiss the South African. Harbhajan ended up taking RCB’s best batsmen in the same innings. Once Harbhajan had done the damage, RCB found it very difficult to come back into the match and were eventually bowled out for 70 runs. Parthiv Patel was the only RCB batsman to reach double figures his team. The Chennai Super Kings take on Delhi Capitals in Delhi on Tuesday, while the Royal Challengers Bangalore are up against Mumbai Indians in Bengaluru on Thursday.