Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are emerging as one of the favourites to lift the title with their consistency as they defeated three-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 37 runs on Saturday.

The win against CSK at the Dubai International Stadium has helped RCB to go up to the fourth position in the points table of this season’s Indian Premier League (IPL). Virat Kohli’s men have eight points from six matches so far.

Batting first, RCB were neither off to a good start nor could they post a huge total on boar. However, Kohli’s gritty and unbeaten 52-ball knock of 90 runs helped them in making a commendable total.

Chasing the total, CSK again succumbed under pressure. As it has been the case throughout the season so far, top-order’s failure resulted in the team’s defeat as Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men could never established their authority and were restricted to 132/8.

This was CSK’s fifth defeat from seven games so far while RCB’s fourth win from six games.

Chasing a 170-run target, Washington Sundar came with the first breakthrough, packing back Faf du Plessis (8) before he also picked Shane Watson (14) to reduce CSK at 25/2.

Ambti Rayudu (42) and N Jagadeesan (33) then showed some resistance, sharing a 64-run partnership for the third wicket. However, the duo’s slow approach hurt CSK’s run-chase.

Jagadeesan fell in the 15th over before the next batsman, Dhoni (10), also became a victim of Yuzvendra Chahal in the 16th over while trying to increase the run-rate.

Sam Curran (0), Rayudu and Dwayne Bravo (7), too, didn’t trouble the scorers much as CSK scorecard read 122/7 in 18.4 overs.

While Chris Morris accounted for the wicket of Curran and Bravo, Isuru Udana got rid of a good-looking Rayudu.

Morris seemed in no mood to spare any CSK batter as two balls later, he sent back Ravindra Jadeja (7), with CSK still 44 runs away from the win.

Deepak Chahar (5 not out) and Shardul Thakur (1 not out) managed six runs off the final over which was anyway not enough to cross the line.

For RCB, Morris returned with impressive figures of 3/19 while Sundar bagged two for 16 runs.

Earlier, opting to bat, RCB rode skipper Kohli’s (90 unbeaten) scintillating knock along with some valuable contributions from Devdutt Padikkal (33) and Shivam Dube (22 not out) to post a respectable 169/4 in the 20 overs.

Shardul picked two wickets for 40 runs while Curran and Chahar settled with one each.

Brief scores: RCB 169/4 wkts in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 90 not out, Devdutt Padikkal 33; Shardul Thakur 2/40) beat CSK 132/8 wkts in 20 overs (Ambati Rayudu 42, N Jagadeesan 33; Chris Morris 3/19) by 37 runs

With IANS inputs