Chennai Super Kings spinners made merry on a slow, turning wicket to blow away Royal Challengers Bangalore for 70 in 17.1 overs in the opening match of the IPL 2019, at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai.
Harbhajan Singh (3/20), Imran Tahir (3/9) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/15) were the wreckers-in-chief, as they made full use of the conditions to bowl out RCB for a paltry total. They were helped by some loose shots from the RCB batsmen.
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CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and put RCB into bat.
Singh turned back the years, dismissing RCB captain and opener Virat Kohli in the fourth over for just six runs. With the batsmen struggling with the timing, the veteran off-spinner ran through the top order, drawing false shots from Moeen Ali (9) and AB de Villiers (9).
Tahir and Jadeja soon joined in to add more misery to RCB. Only opener Parthiv Patel entered double digits, as he was the last man to be dismissed for 29.
While RCB played four foreigners—AB de Villiers, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali and debutant Shimron Hetmyer—CSK settled for three overseas players in Imran Tahir, Shane Watson and Dwayne Bravo.
