In the 8th match of IPL 2025, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to achieve an important victory. This victory came after 6155 days at the Chepauk Stadium, where RCB last won in 2008. The main reason for CSK’s defeat in this match was a controversial decision by captain Rituraj Gaikwad.
Decision to bowl after winning the toss – CSK won the toss and decided to bowl first. Batting first, RCB scored 196 for 7 in 20 overs on the back of captain Rajat Patidar’s half-century (51 runs). In response, the CSK team could score only 146 for 8 in 20 overs, losing by 50 runs. This decision of Rituraj did not prove to be right for the team, as the CSK bowlers failed to stop the RCB batsmen from scoring big.
Pitch condition and strategy – As the match progressed, the pitch became slow and sticky, making it difficult to score runs. Rituraj believed that he had world-class spinners like Ashwin, Jadeja, and Noor Ahmed, who could restrict RCB to a low score. But, this strategy did not succeed. If CSK had batted first, maybe the story would have been different.In this match, Rituraj Gaikwad himself got out on a duck, which also raised questions on his batting. MS Dhoni gave some relief to the team by scoring 30 runs in 16 balls, but this defeat was a big setback for CSK. After the match, Rituraj said that poor fielding played an important role in the defeat. He said, “When you are chasing 20 extra runs on a sticky pitch, you have to bat differently. We need to improve our fielding and we have to come back strongly.”
