Dayal trumps CSK in last over again to take RCB to the top

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) outgunned Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Chinnaswamy, defending 213 on a flat pitch in a wildly see-sawing classic.

It came down to Yash Dayal vs MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja once again. In 2024, the left-arm seamer had bested Dhoni and put RCB in the playoffs. A year on, he denied Dhoni and CSK once again, defending 14 off the last over with a dew-slicked ball. Dayal this time put RCB on top of the IPL 2025 points table, with 16 points, and a step closer to the playoffs.

CSK were left needing 35 off the last three overs with Jadeja, who was batting with attacking intent that was missing earlier in the season, and Dhoni in the middle. It was anybody's game, but Suyash Sharma tipped it RCB's way with an 18th over that went for only six runs.

It then swung CSK's way when Virat Kohli dropped a regulation catch - of Jadeja - at long-on and saw the first ball of the 19th over go through him to the boundary. Dhoni then scythed a legcutter from Bhuvneshwar Kumar over cover for six, and followed with a single to make it 15 required off the last over.

Dayal's plan in the final over was to shut Dhoni and Jadeja down with yorkers. With dew around, he was not able to nail his yorkers, but his low full tosses were still hard to put away, leading two singles and Dhoni's wicket off the third ball. His fourth full toss in a row ended up going over Shivam Dube's waist and well beyond the midwicket boundary for six, but Dayal didn't veer away from his original plan when CSK needed six off three with a free hit in hand. With five needed off two, Dayal bowled a near yorker and Jadeja could only inside-edge it onto his pad for a single. Dube couldn't get the last ball away to the boundary as Dayal pulled off another heist at the Chinnaswamy, sending the crowd into raptures.

Jacob Bethell and Kohli had laid the base for RCB's win by adding 71 for 0, their highest powerplay score at home this season. Romario Shepherd then launched from there, muscling a 14-ball half-century, the joint second-fastest in IPL history.

Bethell might not have even played had Phil Salt recovered from an illness, which had kept him out of RCB's previous game as well. Bethell dashed out of the blocks on Saturday, picking off Khaleel Ahmed for three successive fours in the opening over. He went on to score three more fours and two sixes in the powerplay.

He was the first to bring up his fifty, off 28 balls, in his second IPL innings after getting a life on 27 when Matheesha Pathirana collided with Jadeja, grassing the catch. After having recovered from that blow, Pathirana had Bethell holing out for 55, with Dewald Brevis pulling off a screamer at deep square leg.

As for Kohli, he went onto raise his own fifty off 29 balls. It was his seventh half-century in 11 innings this season. He looked good for a whole lot more until Sam Curran had him popping a catch to point with a slower bouncer for 62 off 33 balls.

Shepherd, who was picked ahead of Liam Livingstone once again, walked out to bat when RCB were 157 for 5 with 14 balls left in the innings. After the big opening stand, they ran out of gas in the middle - between overs 11 and 18 they had managed only 45 runs for four wickets.

Shepherd then helped RCB plunder 54 off the last two overs, the most scored off the 19th and 20th overs in an IPL innings. In the 19th over, he smoked Khaleel for four sixes and two fours which cost CSK 33 runs. In the next over, he took Pathirana for two fours and two sixes to give RCB a blockbuster finish.

Fittingly, Shepherd stormed to his fifty by launching a six into the top tier off the final ball of the innings.

The joy, however, was short-lived for RCB as Ayush Mhatre dominated the powerplay in the chase. He claimed 39 of the 58 runs CSK scored in the first six, including a sequence of 4, 4, 4, 6,4, 4 in a 26-run over bowled by Bhuvneshwar. The pick of the sequence was a dabbed four between point and short third.

Krunal Pandya snared Shaik Rasheed for 14 and Lungi Ngidi, who got a game in place of Josh Hazlewood, dragged CSK back further when he had No. 3 Sam Curran top-edging a catch to the keeper for a run-a-ball 5.

Mhatre, 17, CSK's youngest-ever player, then combined with Jadeja for a rollicking 114-run partnership off 64 balls. The stand ended when Ngidi tricked Mhatre with a slower ball, denying him the chance to become the second-youngest centurion in the IPL after his India Under-19 opening partner Vaibhav Suryavanshi. He was dismissed for 94 off 48 balls.

Jadeja continued to bat with a refreshingly positive approach, especially against spin. He faced just one dot ball out of 16 balls from Krunal and Suyash.

Brevis, though, was dismissed in a slightly contentious fashion. He was given out lbw but the ball was projected to slide down the leg side. The umpire's finger had gone up midway through Brevis and Jadeja crossing over for an attempted leg-bye. The two batters then decided to talk it out and by the time Brevis had called for a review, the 15-second time limit had elapsed. In the end, CSK were left with another case of what might have been.