The inaugural match of IPL 2019 was between the titleholders Chennai Super Kings CSK and Royal Challengers Bangalore RCB. The venue was Chepauk stadium, which is the home ground of CSK, and there were expectations of a thrilling encounter between the teams of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. However, cricket lovers were disappointed at the way things unfolded. They had come to cheer their respective teams but there was nothing to cheer because there was no flurry of fours and sixes.

Sportstar reports that Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by a comfortable margin to keep up its winning streak.

CSK holds the title and wants to maintain its superiority in the Indian Premier League. Thanks to the game strategy of veteran captain MS Dhoni of CSK, the opponents RCB managed to score just 70 runs in its allotted quota of overs and CSK overhauled it with ease.

How the match went

The toss was an important factor and when it went in favor of MS Dhoni, who decided to bowl first. That way, he could have control of the game and know the total that his team would have to chase down. He is a veteran and guessed that the pitch was a slow one and batting on it would be difficult.

Therefore, without hesitation, he gave the new ball to medium pacer Deepak Chahar as the RCB openers Virat Kohli and Parthiv Patel took the crease. Dhoni introduced spin from the second over and Harbhajan Singh played his part by sending Kohli back to the pavilion.

Sportstar says Harbhajan took three wickets and Imran Tahir chipped in with three more.

In the end, RCB collapsed to a score of 70 with Parthiv Patel being the only batsman to reach double figures. This score was RCB’s second-lowest total in the Indian Premier League. It was a disastrous start for Virat Kohli and his men and in reply, CSK made 71 for the loss of three wickets in 17.4 overs. The crowd of supporters at the Chepauk stadium felt let down because of the lack of action that usually accompanies IPL games.

Both captains blame the pitch

According to Times of India, the captains of Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore feel the condition of the pitch was a major factor that put a brake on the proceedings of a game that could have been a cliffhanger. Both Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli expressed their dissatisfaction over the slowness of the pitch at Chepauk, which was under the covers for 4 days. Kohli is also captain of India’s ODI team and in his opinion, “The wicket looked much better than it played. We thought 140-150 would be an ideal score.” He added that no team would want a start like this, but he gave credit to his boys for taking the game to the 18th over.
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