Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore opened a bottle of T20 brilliance, as the home side pulled off a thrilling four-wicket victory over RCB in one of the closest games you will ever see in IPL 2013.
The packed crowd at the MA Chidambaram Stadium were treated to some brilliant batting and bowling, and the majority left home delighted after CSK, in dramatic circumstances, pulled off a win for the ages at the death.
Needing 166 for a win, after RCB ended their innings on 165 for six, thanks to the brilliance of AB De Villers and Virat Kohli, Dhoni and Jadeja put together a brilliant partnership of 59 for the fifth wicket, before the latter took his side to a memorable win.
CSK openers Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay won the last game for CSK without losing a single wicket, but it did not quite go the same way on Saturday as the RCB bowlers bowled really well in their first three overs, conceding just six runs, while also picking up the wicket of Vijay, who was given caught behind off Ravi Rampaul.
Hussey followed soon after, caught at deep square leg by Mayank Agarwal for Vinay Kumar's eighth wicket of the tournament, which made him the holder of the Purple Cap.
Suresh Raina, the man who has not missed a single game in the IPL, along with Subramaniam Badrinath got off to decent starts, playing some nice shots, but just could not kick on and convert it to a big score.
Raina was the first to go, caught at short third man off an edge, before Badrinath became Syed Mohammad's second victim.
CSK now needed over 80 runs from seven overs, but as long as MS Dhoni was in the crease anything was possible.
The CSK skipper and Ravindra Jadeja tried their best to bring down the scoring rate, but some good bowling from RCB saw the needed rate climb instead.
CSK were now staring at an almost impossible target of 54 from the last four overs, which Dhoni cut to 41 from three thanks to a boundary and an absolutely massive six, which landed on the roof of the stadium.
The 17th over from Vinay Kumar fetched CSK 12 runs, meaning the home side now needed 29 runs from the last two overs.
Rampaul (three for 31), though, swung the game RCB's way by picking up the wickets of Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo in the same over. Dhoni (33, 23b, 1x4, 2x6) first edged the West Indian fast bowler to the keeper before Bravo, after a six, was trapped lbw by an in-dipper.
CSK, however, were still in the game, needing 16 from the last over from RP Singh. A four and a six from the first two balls from the excellent Jadeja, saw the target reduced to just six from four.
Three balls later, Chennai now needed two off the final delivery, which incredibly saw Jadeja (37, 19b, 3x4, 1x6) edge it straight to third man, only for the umpire to correctly call a no-ball, and with the CSK batsmen completing a single, the home side had incredibly pulled off a four-wicket victory in the most amazing of circumstances.
In the first innings, Gaylestorm did not hit humid Chennai in the first innings as the West Indians slugger was dismissed in the second over by Chirs Morris - caught behind by MS Dhoni while trying to play at a wide delivery.
Mayak Agarwal hung around for a little while, scoring 24 runs from 21 balls, before being stumped by Dhoni off R Ashwin's bowling.
Virat Kohli and AB De Villers put together an 82-run partnership from just eight overs which helped RCB post a big total. The RCB skipper was in good form after his 93 a few days earlier, and he took that form into this game, with De Villiers more than making up for the early loss of their talisman Gayle.
Kohli was not as brutal as he was in that innings against the Sunrisers, but De Villiers took up the mantle with some style.
The South African played some incredible shots on his way to a 32-ball 64, which included eight fours and one six. Kohli played a nice but far from spectacular 47-ball 58, giving De Villers good company, before the latter took complete charge following the former's dismissal.
Daniel Christian and Ravi Rampaul, after Kohli's wicket at 133 for three, did not contribute much to the total, succumbing early; but it did not matter much as De Villiers, in his own inimitable style took RCB beyond the 160 mark.
