In a crunch match against Chennai in Pune on Saturday, Bangalore put up a lowly batting performance on their way to recording IPL 2018's third-lowest total batting first.
At 89/8 in the 16th over, it appeared RCB will find it hard to go past Hyderabad's 118 but unexpected help from Tim Southee and Mohammed Siraj took them not only past SRH's total but also past Rajasthan's 125/9 against SRH.
Both added 38 runs for the ninth wicket with Southee dominating the partnership with 34 runs as RCB finished on 127/9. The New Zealand allrounder remained unbeaten on 36 off 26 balls with the help of three fours and one six.
However, the lowest total by any team this season is 87 by Mumbai. But it came in an unsuccessful chase against SRH.
Ravindra Jadeja was at the centre of Chennai's brilliant bowling performance. After dropping two simple catches in CSK's defeat against KKR in their last match, Jadeja appeared a man on a mission and returned 3/18, including the prized scalp of Virat Kohli whom he cleaned up for 8.
Parthiv Patel, playing his first match this season, and Mandeep Singh were the other two victims of Jadeja. David Willey, who replaced Faf du Plessis for his first game this season, also gave a good account of himself with figures of 1/24. Veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh chipped in with two wickets at the expense of 22 runs.
Parthiv turned out to be RCB's top-scorer with a 41-ball 53.
Earlier in the day, Chennai won the toss and decided to bowl at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium. Willey was CSK's only change, while RCB brought in Parthiv, M Ashwin and AB de Villiers. De Villiers returned from illness but failed to deliver as Harbhajan masterminded his stumping at the hands of MS Dhoni for just one run.
