Indian Premier League: Ravindra Jadeja and Chris Morris lead Chennai's escape against Bangalore

Ravindra Jadeja and Chris Morris put the seal on a Chennai Super Kings batting effort to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Ravindra Jadeja, here playing for India during the ICC World Twenty20 Super Eights in June 2012, was one of the batting stars for Chennai Super Kings in their match against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.

BANGALORE 165-6 (20 overs)

CHENNAI 166-6 (20 overs)

Toss Chennai, chose to field

Bangalore De Villiers 64, Kohli 58; Morris 3-40

Chennai Jadeja 38, Badrinath 34; Rampaul 3-31, Mohammad 2-15

Man of the match Ravindra Jadeja (Chennai)

Ravindra Jadeja and Chris Morris put the seal on a Chennai Super Kings batting effort driven by cameos from Suresh Raina, Subramaniam Badrinath and MS Dhoni to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in an Indian Premier League thriller at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.

Needing 16 runs to win in the last over, Jadeja hit RP Singh for 11 runs off the first three balls. Morris then reduced the equation to two off the last ball before Jadeja top-edged Singh straight down Ravi Rampaul's throat at third man, but the Bangalore celebrations were cut short by the realisation that it was a no-ball.

Chennai had won by four wickets.

Earlier, Chennai restricted Bangalore to 165 for six and Chennai's chase started off on a sedate note as Murali Vijay and Michael Hussey fell to Rampaul and Vinay Kumar, respectively, in quick succession. It could well have been three down had Singh not floored Badrinath at third man in the sixth over.

Raina and Badrinath then settled down and put up 56 runs in 39 balls until Raina top-edged a long hop from J Syed Mohammad to Murali Kartik at short third man and Mohammad then sent back Badrinath for 34.

Dhoni hit Singh and Rampaul for big sixes to bring Chennai back, but with 29 needed in two overs, Rampaul dismissed both Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo. However, a cool Jadeja ensured Chennai pipped Bangalore to the post.

In the first half, after Bangalore were put in, Chris Gayle fell in the second over when he edged Morris to Dhoni behind the stumps. Virat Kohli was around though, and Mayank Agarwal and he took calculated risks to keep the scoreboard moving. Ravichandran Ashwin sent Agarwal back, and Kohli survived a close caught behind call off Bravo, but AB de Villiers ensured Bangalore were back in it. His presence allowed Kohli to open up and the pair picked up 41 runs between the 13th and 15th overs.

Kohli celebrated his second half-century in three games with a six over midwicket but Morris had the last laugh when he sent back Kohli and Dan Christian to reduce Bangalore to 135 for four.

But De Villiers raced his way to 64 before he was caught off the last ball of the innings on the cover boundary. Bangalore had reached a competitive total but on the day, it was not good enough.

In the earlier game, Mumbai Indians scored a morale-boosting win at home with a convincing 41-run victory over Pune Warriors India to take their turn to top the table with six points.

Sidhant Patnaik is a subeditor with Wisden India.

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