Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

Riding on Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 52-ball 90, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) mauled Chennai Super Kings by 37 runs in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Saturday.

After getting off to a stuttering start, opener Devdutt Padikkal and Kohli added 53 runs for the second wicket to anchor the innings.

Shardul Thakur struck in quick succession to get rid of Padikkal, who belted two boundaries and one six, and AB de Villiers within a space of four balls to push Bangalore on the backfoot.

Kohli kept his cool and knuckled down to mend the innings once again. He took the responsibility to lead the team from the front.

Kohli and Shivam Dube combined to share an unbeaten 76-run partnership, making sure Bangalore did not lose any more wickets. Dube scored only 22 out of the 76-run stand, which came in 5.3 overs.

Kohli raced to his second fifty of the season – 38th overall in the IPl – with a boundary off Thakur in 39 deliveries.

After that there was no stopping for the Bangalore captain as he smashed a blitzkrieg next 40 runs in just 13 deliveries. His innings was studded with four boundaries and as many sixes.

Shane Watson gets bowled out by Washington Sundar.

Chasing, Chennai were never in contention as they lost their first wicket with just 19 runs on the board. It was Washington Sundar who triggered the collapse. He got rid of South African opener Faf Du Plessis (8) by having him caught by Chris Morris, who was playing his first match of the season after being brought into the side as a specialist death bowler. In his next over, Sundar sent back danger man Australian Shane Watson to make it 25-2. At the end of the first power play, Chennai had lost wickets and scored only 25 runs.

Narayan Jagadeesan (33) and Ambati Rayudu (42) shared a 65-run partnership in a bid to revive the innings. But both the batsmen played painstakingly slow and consumed too many deliveries.

Chennai were 89 in 14.2 overs when Jagadeesan was dismissed off a stunning direct throw by Morris. They still needed 80 runs in 5.4 overs with seven wickets in hand. Bangalore’s bowlers ripped through the Chennai middle order, which crumbled under pressure like a stack of cards.

After that. no batsman other than MS Dhoni could manage to reach a double-figure mark. Isuru Udana uprooted the stumps of Rayudu. Morris had Sam Curran and Dwayne Bravo caught by Padikkal and de Villiers respectively. Jadeja also holed out to Gurkeerat Singh off the bowling of the South African pacer, handing him his third wicket.

Morris was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with a figure of 3-19 from his four overs to be followed by Sundar, who took two, conceding 16 runs in his three overs.

With the victory, Bangalore have moved to the fourth spot with eight points from six games behind Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), who also have procured eight points with four wins in their six matches.