Veteran Ashish Nehra dished out a brilliant spell of pace bowling after Suresh Raina's batting heroics as Chennai Super Kings recorded a comfortable 27-run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore in their IPL cricket match here today.
Put into bat, Raina smashed a blistering 32-ball 62 to help Chennai post a challenging 181 for 8 after a 25-minute delayed start due to rain before Nehra led the bowling charge with superb figures of four wickets for 10 runs in his four overs, his best in T20 cricket, at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
35-year-old Nehra ended Bangalore's faint hopes of a victory by dismissing home side captain Virat Kohli (51) and Harshal Patel (0) in consecutive deliveries in the 17th over to seal the match for Chennai. Bangalore ended at 154 for eight while chasing 182 for a win.
The home side which took the field without destructive opening batsman Chris Gayle -- dropped after indifferent form -- did not have a big partnership and none of their top-order batsmen, except Kohli, could reach to 20.
The India Test captain Kohli played a fine 42-ball knock which was studded with four boundaries and two sixes but he was out just when he looked like setting up himself nicely for a final assault.
With today's win, Chennai bounced back after their last match loss to Rajasthan Royals and now have eight points from five matches with the help of three wins to remain on second spot.
On the other hand, Bangalore slumped to their third loss on the trot and still remain at the bottom of the eight-team league table with just two points from four matches by virtue of their win over defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders in their opening match.
