||CF Correspondent||

Defending champions Chennai Super Kings started from where it left off as they defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by seven wickets in the IPL XII opener at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.

Imran Tahir and Harbhajan Singh grabbed three wickets apiece as Bangalore were bundled out for 70 runs in 17.1 overs and later the home team reached 71-3 in 17.4 overs with Ambati Raydu making highest 28 runs.

Losing captain was disappointed to lose in this manner. “No one wants to start like this, but it's good to get a game like this out of the way - this early in the tournament,’’ said Kohli.

“We spoke of trying to be in the game, taking it to the 18th over was nice to see. The batting wasn't good, it wasn't easy to bat on, looked much better surface though, I thought 140-150 would have been an ideal score, especially with dew expected later on. A scrappy start to the league, but I don't think either team had control over it, the pitch was under the covers for 4 days, but we should have batted better, 110-120 would have been a fighting score,’’ he said.

“He (Saini) has been good in conditions where there's some grass, got his chance now. I thought CSK played really well, they deserved to win, but I loved to see our team fighting all the way,’’ he added.

Ambati Raydu said the wicket was difficult to bat on. “It was a tough wicket to bat on. If they had another 30-40 runs it would have been tough to chase it down. The wicket was playing like a four-day game. We are confident after winning the last season but we need to start fresh in this season,’’ said Ambati.

Brief Scores

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 70

Patel 29; Harbhajan 3-20, Tahir 3-9