AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock’s partnership of 103 came to nought as the Chennai Super Kings chased down 205 and won by five wickets in Bangalore.
A stand of 101 in nine overs between Ambati Raduyu (82) and MS Dhoni (70) countered that and gave the Kings victory with two balls to spare.
Once again, Chennai stuck to the now-familiar formula of sending the opposition in to bat and working out the chase-rate.
After the dismissal of Virat Kohli (18), with the score on 35 in the fifth over, the Proteas pair put on 103 in nine overs before De Kock was caught and bowled by Dwayne Bravo for 53, pulling a bit too early on a slower ball. His innings included four sixes and a solitary four.
De Villiers decided to go aerial, smashing three consecutive sixes off Shardul Thakur and two in a row off Imran Tahir as he harvested eight sixes and two fours in his 68 off 30 balls.
The master blaster was the architect of his own misfortune, however, as he chased a short, wide leg break from Tahir, which caught the leading edge.
Tahir followed that up next ball, dismissing Corey Anderson with a googly which went to slip.
But the momentum was maintained by Mandeep Singh’s 32 off 17, and while the tail curled up, it was enough to take the Challengers beyond 200.
It was not enough, especially with Corey Anderson conceding 58 off 3.4 overs.
