Harbhajan Singh rocked the Royal Challengers Bangalore top-order with a three-wicket burst as Chennai Super Kings shot out Virat Kohli’s team for a paltry 70 in 17.1 overs in the opening encounter of the Indian Premier League on Saturday.
CSK won the match by seven wickets.
On a slow Chepauk turner which surprised everyone, the veteran off-spinner opened the bowling and finished with bowling figures of 3/20 in his four-over spell that gave CSK the advantage.
Once Harbhajan was done with his spell, Imran Tahir (3/9 in 3 overs) had a memorable outing as well, proving to be too good for the rest of the RCB batting lineup with Ravindra Jadeja chipping in with two wickets.
RCB had only two genuine spinners in the playing XI and that made it difficult for them to mount a comeback.
CSK won the match by seven wickets by chasing down the target in 17.4 overs. It was their 7th consecutive win against RCB.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to... well, RCB being RCB:
RCB now has the dubious distinction of being the only side to register two totals under 100 in the opening game of any #IPL edition.
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) March 23, 2019
- 82 at Bangalore vs KKR 18 Apr 2008 (batting 2nd)
- 70 at Chennai vs CSK 23 Mar 2019 (batting 1st).
RCB Fans
— फकीर PK⚔️🚩🇮🇳 (@KumarrPrasanna) March 23, 2019
At 8:00 pm At 8:45 pm #CSKvRCB pic.twitter.com/RP1mlOULuD
Harbhajan, Raina, Jadeja, Dhoni, Watson and Tahir are involved in taking wickets. CSK players are old but RCB batting has visible cracks. #CSKvRCB
— Sagar (@sagarcasm) March 23, 2019
Usually it takes a week or two before you start feeling sorry for RCB fans. For #IPL2019 pity party has begun at first hour of the first day. #CSKvRCB
— cricBC (@cricBC) March 23, 2019
"Ja Shimron, jee le apni zindagi" ft Dhoni & Raina #CSKvRCB #IPL2019 pic.twitter.com/v2jmyUWO2C
— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) March 23, 2019
#RCB paying the price for their Batsmen failing to assess the conditions in #Chepauk tonight , 130+ would have been hard work for any side #CSKvsRCB #IPL #IPL2019 #BadriBytes
— subramani badrinath (@s_badrinath) March 23, 2019
Most wkts for spinners in an inngs in IPL:
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) March 23, 2019
8 CSK v DC, Vizag, 2012
8 CSK v RCB, Chennai, 2019 *
7 CSK v DC, East London, 2009
7 RPS v SRH, Vizag, 2016
7 KKR v DD, Kolkata, 2018#CSKvRCB
Economical performance by the boys! We didn’t even reach the petrol price in Bengaluru. 70 is good. #CSKvRCB
— Danish Sait (@DanishSait) March 23, 2019
RCB's total of 70 all out is the lowest score ever at the MA Chidambaram Stadium and their second lowest total behind the 49 all out at Eden Gardens in 2017. #IPL #CSKvRCB
— The Cricket Prof. (@CricProf) March 23, 2019
Lowest totals in IPL's first match of the season:
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) March 23, 2019
70 - RCB v CSK, 2019
82 - RCB v KKR, 2008#CSKvRCB #IPL2019
#CSKvRCB
— अभी_shake (@aao_twist_kare) March 23, 2019
What are the chances of RCB winning the trophy this year?
Virat- pic.twitter.com/pT6mwinvoL
This is incredible. Tough pitch, but not a 70 all out one. Oh #RCB.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 23, 2019
Smart Captains will always prevail over Smart Stats. Dhoni understands the T20 pulse better than most. #IPL #CSKvRCB
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) March 23, 2019
#CSKvRCB
— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) March 23, 2019
Sigh! Dube did not have much of a debu.
RCB making plenty of WROGN decisions... :P #CSKvRCB
— Ashish Magotra (@clutchplay) March 23, 2019
Fans after watching RCB's batting. #RCB #CSKvRCB pic.twitter.com/HX8u0pfTDI
— Aditii🎀 (@Sassy_Soul_) March 23, 2019
RCB playing like RCB #CSKvRCB #IPL2019
— Godman Chikna (@Madan_Chikna) March 23, 2019
Serious case of calling this off as a technical knock out for Kohli. #CSKvRCB
— cricBC (@cricBC) March 23, 2019
This is what MSD ' CSK has done with Kohli's RCB #CSKvRCB pic.twitter.com/pBrC1REzih
— Appu17 (@17_appu) March 23, 2019
CSK last 7 games vs RCB:
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) March 23, 2019
W W W W W W W
CSK last 14 games at Chennai:
W W W W W W W W W W L W W W