The horror! You have to graft for runs at the Chinnaswamy now

On a scale of 1 to 10, for ease of run-scoring, the M Chinnaswamy Stadium probably doesn't make it. On a scale of paradise to heaven on the other hand…

There was a man who called this place his home and by the end of his career he had so many century celebrations - Chris Gayle must have been rehearsing those too. Possibly after getting bored at the nets. It feels like coming up with the helmet on the bat handle thing would have taken more time than figuring out how to hit the ball out of that tiny, tiny park.

Bowlers from all over would come and try to beat the odds and then they would leave with important learnings. Like making sure their parents kept the evening free next time so they could call and tell them they were still good boys and did not deserve to be punished like that. Seventeen years into the IPL, they likely have a whole checklist to survive Bengaluru. Overseas players must be tired of explaining to customs officials why their luggage includes a rabbit's foot.

Because this ground spared no one. Seamers. Spinners. Even those mysterious in-betweeners. Sunil Narine once bowled a Super Over and conceded no runs. Two of that genius' three most expensive spells in the IPL have come here. The Chinnaswamy only showed him kindness when he wised up and decided to try his hand at batting. Narine hit his first T20 fifty here.

So, it didn't make any sense to see Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Delhi Capitals (DC) playing out a 163 vs 169 game, where batters from both sides had to graft for their runs. Three of RCB's top six had strike rates lower than 70. Each of DC's top three fell for single-digit scores. Were those first three overs that produced 53 runs all a dream?

Andy Flower, during a groundside interview with the host broadcaster, tried to provide some context between innings. "[The pitch] was slow. It was holding a bit. You know, those length balls were a little up and down. Slower balls were gripping a little and the spinners were turning it." But the longer he spoke the harder it was to reconcile that it was all happening at the Chinnaswamy. Virat Kohli made a hundred in a 15-over game here. AB de Villiers went full mad scientist here. Batting has never been hard here. Only one stadium in all of IPL history has seen more sixes hit and that's because Mumbai's Wankhede has hosted 23 more matches.

On Thursday, though, the match-winning innings came from someone who was actively trying not to hit the ball in the air. He would dab and dink and nudge and nurdle. KL Rahul made 93 off 53 and the reason he could score all those runs so quickly was because he was willing to show the bowlers respect. Very few batters have ever been pushed to such extremes in Bengaluru.

His first boundary was an accident. His focus was on presenting the full face of the bat and by virtue of that he found the gap between bowler and mid-off. At least the outfield was working properly. He had to be careful accessing square of the wicket, particularly on the off side, because the ball just wasn't coming onto the bat. He has a devastating cut shot in his armoury but it brought him only eight runs in seven balls. Oh, and there's the other thing. He had to run for more than a quarter of his runs.

Sometime past the halfway mark of the chase, rain had begun to fall and Dinesh Karthik contended that it changed the characteristics of the pitch. "The shots that they played definitely wasn't possible in the first innings," he said after watching Rahul hit Josh Hazlewood for three fours and a six in a single over. DC hit two boundaries (or more) every over after that as they sailed to victory. It took an act of god for things to go back to normal at the Chinnaswamy.

The crowd were chanting Rahul's name by this point. He grew up playing his cricket here. "This is my ground," he said at the post-match presentation. When he was out there in the middle, with bat in hand instead of a mic, which he then pointed to and planted down on the turf, he had a little more to say. One word specifically. Do DC have a swear jar?