IPL 2019: CSK vs RCB - Three unnoticed things from the IPL opener

The inaugural game of the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League saw a high-octane encounter which didn't live up to its grandeur. The southern derby of the defending champions Chennai Super Kings and the mighty Royal Challengers Bangalore that took place at the iconic MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, saw a one-sided clash in which the hosts got better of the opponents and eventually kicked off their IPL 2019 campaign with a victory.

CSK fielded a surprising XI that consisted of only 3 overseas players. RCB's XI too had a surprise element in the form of Navdeep Saini. Deepak Chahar was given the ball to start the proceedings whilst Parthiv Patel and Virat Kohli held the bat to kick off the IPL. RCB started slowly but steadily as their score was 15/0 by the end of 3rd over.

MS Dhoni's decision to give the new ball to Harbhajan Singh, that had initially made no sense, turned out be a masterstroke in the 4th over as Bhajji dismissed the RCB skipper Virat Kohli in single digits. The off-spinner soon dismissed Moeen Ali and then struck the big fish in the form of AB de Villiers. The pressure built by Bhajji resulted in the run-out of Shimron Hetmyer, in the same over.

Other spinners like Ravindra Jadeja and Imran Tahir then broke RCB's backbone and put the team in a very humiliating condition. Parthiv Patel, who was the highest run-scorer from RCB, was dismissed on the first ball of Dwayne Bravo's spell and the visitors were unfortunately bundled out on an insignificant total of 70 runs.

CSK too had a slow start as Shane Watson played out a maiden in the first over. Watson was soon out in the third over which gave a bit of hope to the team RCB. However, with the help of small contributions from Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja CSK eventually registered a 7-wicket win in the first match of the tournament.

Here are some unnoticed things from the match.

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#1 MS Dhoni takes a review just to satisfy Ravindra Jadeja

MS Dhoni

A very funny incident occurred during the second ball of the 14th over when Ravindra Jadeja was bowling to Parthiv Patel. A flat-in-turner from Jadeja resulted in Patel missing the ball and the ball touching his pads. Jadeja appealed to the umpire but the umpire didn't give it out.

MS Dhoni didn't look convinced either but he had to take the DRS just to satisfy Jadeja. The ball tracking showed that the ball was going over the leg and Chennai lost their review.

#2 CSK playing with 9 bowling options

CSK spinners were on fire

MS Dhoni has been one of the greatest captains in the history of IPL. He is widely known for his abilities to take surprising calls out of nowhere. However, he doesn't only take surprising calls that initially make no sense but at the end, the 37-year old makes sure that his decisions turn out to be a masterstroke.

During the inaugural game of IPL 2019, The Chennai Super Kings skipper Dhoni decided to field an XI that consisted of 9 bowling options. The playing XI has 9 players in the form of Shane Watson, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Shardul Thakur, and Imran Tahir who could bowl at least an over or a two.

This decision eventually turned out to be a masterstroke as RCB were dismissed on the score of a minimal 70. It played a huge role in CSK's victory too as the pitch was slow but CSK easily won it because the target was too less, to say the least.

#3 CSK opening bowlers bowling out all 4 overs in the first spell itself

Harbhajan Singh

MS Dhoni's habit of creating chaos isn’t hidden from anyone. He is best known for the astonishing decisions taken by him both on and off the field. His calls simply leave the people flabbergasted.

Even during today's match, the former Indian captain did something which initially seemed quite exaggerating and left the people nonplussed. Dhoni let the opening bowlers bowl their 4 overs in the first spell itself. Deepak Chahar and Harbhajan Singh, who were asked to start the proceedings with the ball, weren't removed from the spell for the next 8 consecutive overs.

They were allowed to bowl their whole spell in successive overs. This was a great decision as on one hand, Harbhajan struck three invaluable wickets of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Moeen Ali whilst on the other hand, Deepak Chahar conceded just 17 runs in 24 balls and kept RCB's run rate under control.