IPL 2021 Matches 19 & 20: RCB v/s CSK & SRH v/s DC. Chennai and Delhi move to the number 1 and 2 spot on the points table.

Hello everyone. We had 2 back-to-back IPL matches on 25th April. The 19th match was played between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore at Wankhede stadium and Chennai won the match by 69 runs and regained the top spot on the points table. The 20th match was played between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at MA Chidambaram stadium and Delhi won the match in the super over in a very exciting contest.

Talking first about the afternoon match, Chennai won the toss and decided to bat first. Dhoni took the call as he predicted that the wicket would get slow in the later stage of the game and he wanted to get runs on the board up-front. Chennai got a very good start by its openers as Ruturaj Gaikwad scored 33 runs and Faf du Plessis scored 50 runs. Suresh Raina at number 3 scored 24 runs before getting out and the game slowed down a bit at that stage. But Daniel Christian and Bangalore regretted dropping Ravindra Jadeja catch on 0 as he hit 37 runs in the 20th over and Chennai ended with 191 runs on the board. Jadeja made 62 runs in 28 balls and gave the momentum to Chennai at the end of the first inning. Harshal Patel had picked up 3 wickets in his first 3 overs while giving away just 14 runs but the last over spoiled his figures.

Bangalore also got a quick start but lost Virat Kohli early on 8 runs. Devdutt Paddikal got out on 34 runs which he made in just 15 balls but the game changed completely in Chennai's favour from there. Ravindra Jadeja dismissed the next three batsmen, Washington Sundar, Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villers and got the game completely in Chennai's grip. The match became just a formality after there and Bangalore played out its 20 overs and could make only 122 runs in them. Chennai won the match by a huge margin. Ravindra Jadeja won the Man of the Match award for his amazing performance and this would give him and Chennai the world of confidence moving into the next leg of the tournament.

Bangalore would be disappointed with their fielding performance which proved costly at the end but they shouldn't be critical of this loss as it was just their first loss this season. Chennai would be mighty pleased with their performance in the matches in Mumbai and would fly to Delhi with a lot of confidence. 

Moving on to the next match, Delhi won the toss and elected to bowl first. Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan got Delhi a good start and they made 53 runs and 28 runs respectively before getting dismissed. Delhi was 80 runs for no loss in 10 overs at one stage but once the two openers got down, the match slowed down. Rishabh Pant and Steve Smith played sensible knocks after that and scored 37 runs and 34 runs respectively and Delhi finished with 159 runs on the board. Hyderabad needed 160 runs to win the match.

Hyderabad lost David Warner early but Jonny Bairstow continued playing his shots. But he too got out at the wrong time after scoring 38 runs in 18 runs. It was only Kane Williamson for Hyderabad who didn't throw his wicket and took the game deep. The Indian middle-order of Hyderabad disappointed once again and Virat Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Abhishek Sharma and Vijay Shankar collectively scored just 26 runs in 36 balls. It was because of Jagadeesha Suchith who scored 14 runs in 6 balls in the last 2 overs that the 40 overs ended with both the teams scoring equal runs and the match went into a super over. In the super over, Hyderabad could make only 7 runs and Delhi chased it down in the last ball and won the match. This win took Delhi to the number 2 spot in the points table Hyderabad dropped to the 7th spot.

This loss would hurt Hyderabad as this match was for them to win and they lost it because of small errors at the end. They need to change the middle-order to find a better combination as the current one is not working for them. For Delhi, this win would give them a lot of confidence and they would go into the next leg of the tournament with the hope of continuing the winning run.

The next match now in the tournament is between Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings. Punjab won their last match and Kolkata has been on a losing spree. Both the teams would look to win this match. We'll have to find out which team gets those 2 points. Please come back here to read the summary of that match here on Tuesday morning. Until then, stay at home and stay safe.