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| Spinners did their best to put CSK on Top again |
Ravindra Jadeja took out Virat Kohli first ball. Then Harbhajan Singh took out AB de Villiers first ball. Chennai Super Kings took out Royal Challengers Bangalore for 127. And at the end of it all, MS Dhoni just smiled. He wielded a slow pitch like a magic wand, turning a docile bowling attack - economy-rate of 9.19 - into a mythical match-winning entity.
Jadeja's arm has been gathering dust this IPL and the situation got so bad that he was malfunctioning. He wasn't scoring runs. On Thursday, he dropped two catches in two balls. He wasn't taking wickets. And the coach was forced to call him out at a post-match press conference.
But everything changed the moment CSK won the toss on Saturday. An arm ball zipped past Kohli's cut shot and thudded into the off stump. A full-blooded sweep from Mandeep Singh found deep square leg. And even the top-scorer Parthiv Patel popped a catch straight back to him. Jadeja didn't celebrate any of those wickets and instead wore a look that said: is this really happening? Considering they collapsed to 89 for 8, RCB might have wondered the same thing.
Harbhajan used to be a linchpin with Mumbai Indians. But his 10-year relationship with them ended this season and he has found a foolproof way to cozy up to his new fans - tweet in Tamil, the first language in Chennai, and keep taking wickets. Big ones. Like de Villiers, stumped while playing the reverse sweep.
Harbhajan's success - and Jadeja's too - was the result of being accurate, looping the ball up on off stump but rarely allowing batsmen to reach the pitch of it. Most played for non-existent turn and were ambushed by straight balls. The two spinners bowled eight overs, conceded only three boundaries and picked up five wickets. Even batsmen of the class of Kohli and de Villiers - who made only 9 runs put together - couldn't cope.
Harbhajan used to be a linchpin with Mumbai Indians. But his 10-year relationship with them ended this season and he has found a foolproof way to cozy up to his new fans - tweet in Tamil, the first language in Chennai, and keep taking wickets. Big ones. Like de Villiers, stumped while playing the reverse sweep.
Harbhajan's success - and Jadeja's too - was the result of being accurate, looping the ball up on off stump but rarely allowing batsmen to reach the pitch of it. Most played for non-existent turn and were ambushed by straight balls. The two spinners bowled eight overs, conceded only three boundaries and picked up five wickets. Even batsmen of the class of Kohli and de Villiers - who made only 9 runs put together - couldn't cope.
Watch Match Highlights Here:⬇️
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