Pune, May 4 (IANS): Chennai Super Kings spinners Maheesh Theekshana and Moeen Ali took five wickets between themselves while Mahipal Lomror and Dinesh Karthik hit handy knocks in the back end of the innings as Royal Challengers Bangalore reached 173/8 in their 20 overs at MCA Stadium on Wednesday.
On a pitch which had some assistance for spinners, Bangalore were off to a steady start as Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli hit eight boundaries between themselves to be at 51/0 in the first five overs. But in the next five overs, Bangalore endured a spin-inflicted slowdown, starting from Maheesh Theekshana conceding only six runs from the final over of powerplay.
Du Plessis tried to smash a returning Moeen Ali over big leg-side boundary in the eighth over but pulled straight to deep mid-wicket. A lack of communication between Kohli and Glenn Maxwell resulted in the latter being run-out while taking a quick single.
Ali came back to produce a perfect off-spinner dismissal, inviting Kohli to go for an expansive drive but got one to turn in from outside off to hit the stumps. Bangalore's top three falling in quick succession meant that they slipped from being 62/0 to 79/3 at the half-way mark.
From there, Lomror and Rajat Patidar produced two fours and as many sixes over the leg-side off Ali and Theekshana for a useful 44-run partnership off 32 balls before Dwaine Pretorius got the former out with Mukesh Choudhary sprinting in to take a fine catch at deep square leg. Lomror continued to hit boundaries, with a flat sweep off Pretorius going for a flat six over deep mid-wicket being the standout.
But Theekshana brought Chennai back in the match as he had Lomror and Wanindu Hasaranga caught on both sides of the 'v' on successive balls of the 19th over. He then finished off the over by knocking Shahbaz Ahmed's stumps with a carrom ball.
Dinesh Karthik took 16 off the final over off Pretorius, including two sixes over deep mid-wicket and long-on, to take Bangalore's score past 170-mark.
Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 173/8 in 20 overs (Mahipal Lomror 42, Faf du Plessis 38; Maheesh Theekshana 3/27, Moeen Ali 2/28) against Chennai Super Kings