Dhoni begins with a bang; Kolhli's IPL jinx continues

Chennai: Led by the former captain of the Indian national side Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), led by Dhoni's successor and current skipper Virat Kohli, by seven wickets in the opening encounter of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday.

Batting first, RCB were bowled out for 70 in 17.1 overs in which Parthiv Patel top scored with 29 off 35 balls. Harbhajan Singh (3/20 in 4 overs), Imran Tahir (3/9 in 3 overs) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/15 in 4 overs) shared the wickets. Dwayne Bravo also chipped in with a wicket. In reply, CSK scored the runs in 17.4 overs with Ambati Rayudu scoring 28.

RCB in defeat maintained their inglorious record against CSK and also had the ignominy of ending with the sixth lowest total in the league.

Skipper Dhoni's move to open with Harbhajan paid rich dividends as he removed rival skipper Virat Kohli (6) in the fourth over and RCB never recovered from that early blow.