Royal Challengers Bengaluru have begun IPL 2026 with two convincing victories. Chennai Super Kings, meanwhile, sit at the other end of the table after three defeats. On Sunday night in Bengaluru, the gap was laid bare during the final five overs of RCB’s 218 for 5 – a period that cost CSK 97 runs and, effectively, the game.
RCB were 153 for 3 at the start of the 16th. Khaleel Ahmed leaked 19, Noor Ahmad 21, Anshul Kamboj 14, Jamie Overton 30, and Kamboj another 13. Tim David did most of the damage, yet the larger concern was how easily he accessed his scoring options.
“For me, as a captain, you can always understand poor execution,” Aaron Finch said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show straight after the 43-run defeat. “If the plan is right and the bowler has bought into it, and they mis-execute, that’s okay … Was the planning right? I don’t think it was. Was the execution right? No, it absolutely wasn’t. So when you’re missing both of them, that’s worrying signs.”
Ambati Rayudu, sitting alongside Finch, went further. “More than a bad plan, they just stuck to that bad plan,” he said. “There was nobody to intervene and to just take some time off, take those 20-30 seconds, just make it slightly more slow and then guide the bowler with a message. I think they should have slowed it down a little bit.”
Overton’s 19th over summed up the mess. “Everything was around the wicket. Around the wicket, six, six, six,” Finch noted. “At no point was there anyone go up to the bowler and say, ‘okay, maybe this plan is not working, let’s think of something else’. What it is, is your head starts spinning in a situation like that … Before you know it, that over’s gone and you’ve forgot to rejig your plans.”
Rayudu suggested the issue was less tactical theory and more on-field nous. “Their follow-up balls after a boundary or a six aren’t great,” he said. “Generally, as a bowler, you need to be aware that, okay, I have been hit for a six, but it’s the next ball that matters. Whenever you see good death bowlers, they always follow up with a very good ball.”
Statistically, CSK’s attack does not lack experience – Khaleel and Noor have bowled plenty at the death elsewhere – yet they looked short of leadership once MS Dhoni’s gloves and calming presence were absent. Analyst Gaurav Sundararaman pointed out that going around the wicket to right-handers is a method the wider Super Kings franchise has pushed in other leagues. It can work, but in Bengaluru’s small confines there is little margin; miss the yorker and the ball vanishes.
Contrast that with an RCB side currently getting most decisions right. Their batting depth allowed Glenn Maxwell and David to attack from ball one, and they ended with three overs of Harshal Patel up their sleeve – a luxury CSK never enjoyed. “A team that’s making the right decision at the right time,” Finch said admiringly.
The season is young and CSK have made sluggish starts before, yet the early evidence is uncomfortable. A tighter powerplay, or one decent six-ball set at the end, would have kept Sunday’s chase within reason. Instead, they needed 219 in 20 overs and finished 43 short.
RCB “are setting great standards for themselves,” Rayudu acknowledged. CSK, for now, are trying to remember their own.
