Right through his captaincy career, MS Dhoni has been applauded and celebrated for his reading of the game, and sensing opportunities. Leading Chennai Super Kings against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the MCA Stadium here on Wednesday, Dhoni once again showed his awareness to the situation with some clever use of his spinners. And to their credit, Dhoni’s spinners responded brilliantly. Maheesh Theekshana (3-27), Moeen Ali (2-28) and Ravindra Jadeja (0-20) bowled well on a pitch that was gripping a bit to restrict the RCB to 173-8, having scored at nine and half runs per over in the Powerplay.

It was only due to some powerful hitting from Mahipal Lomror (42) and Dinesh Karthik (26*) that RCB managed to put a challenging total on board. But the 12 overs of spin costing 75 runs and getting five wickets was a clear highlight for the CSK team. At the time of going to press,  CSK were 72-2 in nine overs.