IPL 2019, Match 1: CSK vs RCB - 3 reasons why Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in the opening game

CSK got off to a perfect start

When it was announced that Indian Premier League's season 12 will start with a clash between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings, there was a lot of buzz and excitement in the air. These are two heavyweight teams of the competition and neither team has any shortage of superstars.

While the defending champions CSK went in favorites, RCB was expected to give them a good run for their money. But the match turned out to be a no contest as the hosts registered an easy win over the visitors.

RCB, who have some of the best batsmen in this format were bundled out for a paltry score of 70. Harbhajan Singh was the destroyer in chief as he picked three early wickets to rock the batting unit of Virat Kohli's men. They never recovered from the early bust and fell well short of 100; which could have been a decent score on the surface. Despite, the pitch being difficult to play on, the target was not a concern for CSK's batting line up.

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#3 Poor shot selection by RCB batsman

Hetmyer scored a duck on his debut

RCB batsmen didn't seem to read the pitch well as they played some reckless shots on a tough surface. The Chepauk pitch had a lot of help for the spinners and a score of around 120 would have been very competitive. At one stage, RCB were 38/2, but then they lost the wicket of AB de Villiers.

This is where everything started to go wrong for the visitors as none of the batsmen was determined apply themselves on this tough pitch. RCB lost their last eight wickets for just 32 runs as Imran Tahir and Harbhajan Singh ran riot.

Parthiv Patel showed that you could score runs on this pitch if you were ready to apply yourself. The RCB opener was the only batsman to reach double figures while the other batsmen kept falling like nine pins around him. If the rest of the team had applied themselves like Patel, they could have put a respectable score on the board.

#2 CSK opened the bowling with Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh was brilliant tonight

MS Dhoni is one of the best tacticians in the history of the game but his decision to field first on a pitch expected to help spinners raised a few eyebrows. However, the CSK captain had a plan in mind. He decided to open the bowling with Harbhajan Singh, who rolled back the years in the first innings.

He rocked the RCB batting by picking wickets of Virat Kohli, Moeen Ali, and AB de Villiers. These three are the mainstays of RCB batting unit and losing their wickets early was a huge blow to the visitors. The 'Turbanator' gave away just 20 runs in his spell and took three important wickets to put his team on driver's seat.

Bhajji proved to everyone that there is still a lot of cricket left in him. The success of the legendary off-spinner with the new ball might prompt Dhoni to use this tactic for the rest of the tournament.

#3 Cautious batting effort by CSK

A simple chase for CSK

Cricket is an unpredictable game and considering the nature of the pitch, RCB still had some chance to win the match. The target was small but losing early wickets could have brought Kohli's men back into the match. CSK batsmen came out with a pragmatic approach as there was no scoreboard pressure.

CSK scored just 16 runs in the first powerplay and when the field opened up, they started dealing in singles and doubles. Ambati Rayudu was the top scorer with 28 runs to his name but he played 42 balls to accumulate those runs.

CSK batsmen were even more careful against Yuzvendra Chahal who could have been a handful on this pitch. The RCB's best spinner gave away just six runs in his spell but managed to pick only one wicket. In the end, it was a comfortable win for the men in yellow as they won with seven wickets in hand and 14 balls to spare.