IPL 2019: Khaleel Ahmed's three-wicket haul to Parthiv Patel's MS Dhoni act, best moments from Sunday's doubleheader

A terrific half-century from MS Dhoni wasn’t enough for Chennai Super Kings to overcome Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and the Virat Kohli-led side registered successive wins in the season helped by searing spells from Dale Steyn and Umesh Yadav at the start. Another century-stand from David Warner and Jonny Bairstow took Sunrisers Hyderabad to their fifth win in nine matches in the season as Kolkata Knight Riders succumbed to their fifth straight defeat at Hyderabad on Sunday. Here are the best moments from Sunday’s doubleheader. Khaleel Ahmed’s strong reply Sunil Narine had walked out in his familiar mood of smashing every single ball and on 11 off 4 balls, he had gotten off to a great start when Khaleel Ahmed was given the ball. He dished out two short balls in succession at Narine and the West Indian deposited them for a six over extra cover and a four through mid-wicket with utter disdain. [caption id=“attachment_6491641” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Khaleel Ahmed took three wickets and was adjudged Man of the Match. Sportzpics[/caption] When Khaleel landed the next one at yorker length, Narine was ready for him and he smashed it over the off-side field for another boundary. Undeterred, Khaleel landed a slow off-cutter to deceive the Kolkata Knight Riders opener. The ball held up on the surface and Narine, who was early on the shot, watched helplessly as the ball hit leg-stump. A buoyed Khaleel picked up two more wickets and finished as the Man of the Match for Sunrisers Hyderabad with his second three-wicket haul in the season. Karthik’s diving spree and eventual run-out Dinesh Karthik’s stay at the crease lasted just seven balls but for nearly half the number of balls, he was diving around at one end or the other. After just about beating Vijay Shankar’s throw at the non-striker’s end in the first ball he faced in the game, Karthik had to dive again at the non-striker’s end when Nadeem looked to parry the ball onto the stumps off Lynn’s shot down the ground. A ball later, Karthik flicked Nadeem to deep mid-wicket and looked to take on Shankar’s arm from the deep attempting a second run. He had called for a double straightaway after playing the shot and did not back away even when Shankar covered good ground to reach to the ball quickly. He released it even faster and even a desperate dive at the striker’s end couldn’t save Karthik as Bairstow completed the run-out. Du Plessis-Shorey’s incredible relay catch If Colin Ingram pulled off a spectacular relay catch with Axar Patel on Saturday, it was another South African’s turn to light up the IPL with some acrobatics near the ropes on Sunday. Faf du Plessis, in partnership with substitute fielder, Dhruv Shorey, pulled off an incredible relay catch to dismiss the dangerous Marcus Stoinis. In the 17th over of the innings, Stoinis lofted Imran Tahir down the ground and got more elevation than distance. Faf du Plessis, at long-off, got to the ball and held his balance while throwing the ball to the long-on fielder, Shorey. He fell over the ropes then but had passed the ball on before touching the other side of the ropes. The brilliant effort gave CSK a crucial wicket in the death overs. Steyn takes two, zing bails save Faf Dale Steyn picked up a wicket in his first over on comeback in the last match against Kolkata Knight Riders and put in an even more influential performance on Sunday at Bengaluru against CSK. He was let down by Stoinis at first slip who dropped Chris Lynn off the first ball he bowled in nine years for RCB the other day. Against CSK when Steyn produced another wonderful outswinger in the first over to catch Shane Watson’s edge, Stoinis held on. The South African celebrated it by cleaning up Suresh Raina with a cracking inswinging yorker next ball. At 6/2 after the first over, CSK were in trouble but it could have gotten worse had the zing bails not failed Umesh Yadav. Known for being hard to dislodge this IPL season, the zing bails didn’t move when a Umesh delivery to Faf du Plessis grazed the timber. Dhoni nearly does it again at Chinnaswamy With 70 needed in the last five overs, Chennai Super Kings seemed well and truly out of the run-chase given that Dhoni’s only company was Ravindra Jadeja and the tail. On 29 off 27 balls, Dhoni changed gears in the last five overs and took on the RCB death bowlers with confidence. He fell short by a whisker, though, and CSK lost by a run eventually with Dhoni unbeaten on 84, his highest score in the IPL. Incidentally, the whole scenario was reminiscent of CSK’s match against RCB at the very same venue last year. Needing 206 to win then, Chennai needed 71 in the last five overs with Dhoni on 38 off 22 balls. The Chennai skipper smashed 32 in the next 12 balls and took the visitors to a win with two balls to spare. CSK lost this time around, but Dhoni nearly pulled off an improbable run-chase yet again. Parthiv’s moment reminiscent of Dhoni’s World T20 heroics With 26 needed in the final over bowled by Umesh Yadav, Dhoni smashed a four followed by two consecutive sixes. He added one more maximum off the penultimate ball and brought the equation down to two runs needed off one ball. Dhoni then missed a slower delivery off the last ball and Thakur was run-out at the striker’s end by the keeper. Parthiv Patel collected the ball cleanly and threw down the stumps at his end to catch Thakur short by an inch. The RCB keeper did not bother to remove his keeper’s gloves and pulled off a spectacular direct hit to win his side the game. Had he taken the extra second to remove the gloves or take aim, CSK might have sneaked through. The whole situation was similar to Dhoni’s brilliant run-out off the final ball - on that occasion, Dhoni effected the run-out by running forward rather than throwing at the stumps - for India against Bangladesh in the World T20 in 2016. Like RCB on Sunday, India won that game by one run. For all the latest news, opinions and analysis from IPL 2019, click here For the full schedule, date, time and venue of all the matches of IPL 12, click here Check out the full points table for IPL 2019, including holders of Orange and Purple Caps